Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Amy        
Lynnie     

historical fiction, fantasy

Once Upon a River tells the tale of people living along the Thames River as they find themselves involved in a mystery that is literally delivered to the local pub.

Amy's Review

This novel grabbed me from the start even though it’s not a fast-paced story.  Rather, it is, as the title suggests, like a ride down the river moving through the story with some stops along the way to see the sights.  I love it when a) a book title is appropriate/meaningful to the story and b) a book cover is appropriate/meaningful to the story.  This novel got it exactly right in both aspects!  Extra points for completely covering the theme at every curve in the tale.

The story telling (in a book *about* story telling) was well done. The main flaw was that there were a few scenes intended to be comic relief that were, indeed, humorous until they went on for too long. But, the rest of the tale was smartly crafted and engaging.  Truly lovable, unique characters, a creative conundrum, and successfully implemented multiple points of view sucked me in. I loved the way Diane Setterfield introduced us to so many characters, a few at a time, so that I had time to get to know each of them a bit and avoided being overwhelmed with all the players.  And, as with most tales that begin with “Once upon a time”, I love a happy ending.

The audiobook narrator, Juliet Stevenson, is excellent. She has a naturally deep voice and does excellent male voices!  A rarity! Fabulous voice acting!  Such a variety of voices with seeming ease of transition between them. Truly a master!  Very few people could do this and she’s the first woman I’ve heard to pull out such a huge cast of unique character voices. I’m SUPER impressed and give her an A+!

Lynnie's Review

I enjoyed the story of Once Upon a River but my sister is right- this story meanders just like the river that runs through the novel. It's only 400 pages but took me 2 weeks to read it and often felt like a much longer tome. I think it was because of this meandering approach to story-telling that I never felt a sense of urgency to finish the book. Ordinarily when I read I am so desperate to find out what happens that I read long past my bedtime; in this book however I was always content to read a chapter and put the book down for another day.

Still, I enjoyed the characters immensely and was taken by the community that Setterfield created. I was less interested in the mystery within the story than the characters themselves; I think I could have read an entire novel about Margot and the Swan, or the Vaughns, or the Armstrongs. I would like to know more about all of them & yet, I guess I know enough as they all resonated with me in one way or another.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Amy     

nonfiction

As a future librarian, how could I not love The Library Book?  It’s a book about libraries! I wish everyone who asks me why I want to be a librarian in this day and age or questions whether libraries are still relevant would read this!  It covers the monumental 1986 fire of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) in detail and is written in an engaging style that keeps the reader interested despite the potentially flat, factual material.  Susan Orlean covers just about every related topic: architecture and art of the LAPL, the architect himself, the various librarians that managed the LAPL and their histories, the LAPL’s politics/culture throughout its existence, past and present librarians of LAPL, general history of libraries, issues related to and faced by libraries, the details of the LAPL fire, the story of the man accused of setting the fire, the aftermath of and responses to the fire, the past and present patrons of LAPL, the collections and offerings of LAPL—both those lost in the fire and the current materials, history of the city of Los Angeles itself, international and traveling libraries, library organizations and vendors, and the future of libraries.  All of this information is woven together in a stimulating pattern to keep the material from getting boring.

One of the fun things about it is that every chapter starts with a listing of books as a reference list including library catalog identifications.  Excellent! I loved her story about the barbershop quartet singer (!) for personal reasons. I learned a lot while reading this book and re-affirmed my personal love of libraries.  I wondered if the audience for this book would be limited to library aficionados/employees/students, but one of my friends who is not a library enthusiast also enjoyed it very much. 

The author narrated the audiobook herself.  While her voice is not as pleasant as your average narrator, it was clear, genuine, and approachable.  Plus, I enjoy hearing an author narrate her own work because she usually reads it with the same emphasis in which she wrote it.  I give her an A- for her narration.

The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty

Amy    

fantasy

This sequel picked up where the last novel left off in the prologue and then jumped to five years later in the first chapter.

I won the audiobook of The Kingdom of Copper.  I had enjoyed the story and adventure in the first novel in the series, City of Brass. Like the first novel, this installment is a great adventure full of creative creatures and situations. S. A. Chakraborty corrected the writing shortcomings I had noted in the first installment.  However, all the cruelty and hatred between the different peoples in and around Daevabad grew tiresome.  All the religious fanaticism, the royal superiority, and the backstabbing was frustrating.  Plus it was a long novel and started to lose me in the middle. Too much politics and not enough escapism.  But it rallied in the end and I couldn’t put it down.  I found myself really being touched by some of the relationships, too, once some people started acting like they “should” instead of being ugly towards each other like they had been almost the entire novel.  So, I’ll give it an extra half-star and have high hopes for the conclusion of the trilogy. 

The narrator, Soneela Nankani, did a good job overall.  However, she leaned a little bit into the melodramatic territory sounding overly sad/concerned in situations that weren’t that dire or when, I feel, she should have sounded tougher.  Other than that, her voice acting was good and she was able to differentiate some voices.  I give her a B.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Amy      
Lynnie   
 
fiction, historical fiction

Little Fires Everywhere is the story of two families living in Shaker Heights, OH (which happens to be our mother’s hometown and very familiar to us) and all the drama (aka fires) surrounding the family members.  It begins at the end, with a literal house fire, which is a good way to grab the readers’ interest.  The rest of the novel leads us back to where we started including back-histories of the characters. 

Amy's Review

This novel really held my interest.  The family dynamics were not uncommon or unusual. The characters had both good and bad qualities.  Everything was believable and Celeste Ng drew vivid pictures of the town and the people.  Even though these families only knew each other for the several months described in the novel, they were all forever changed by their interactions. I loved reading about Shaker Heights…as someone who has visited many times and heard my mother’s stories about growing up there. The novel validated several of my impressions.  It was fun for me to recognize many of the names of places mentioned too.

I imagine that the accolades and excitement this book has attracted are largely due to the inevitable good discussions it is bound to generate.  Topics surrounding parenting in general and adoptive parents vs. birth parents are likely to be engaging in many book clubs.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Jennifer Lim.  I thought she did a nice job.  Her voice acting was great and her performances of the different characters’ voices was good. I give her an A. 

Lynnie's Review

While the ending wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped it would be, I generally enjoyed almost all of the characters and how realistically they were portrayed. Ultimately, I thought that Little Fires Everywhere is about relationships and how we judge the people both in our lives and on its periphery.  It was interesting to view the community of Shaker Heights through someone else's eyes and I often found myself smiling at the community descriptions. I could see my grandparents and my mother in several of the characters and their actions. Overall, it's a very thought-provoking and enjoyable book.

Baby You're Gonna Be Mine by Kevin Wilson

Lynnie

short story collection, contemporary fiction

Goodreads says that Baby You're Gonna Be Mine is, "Filled with imagination and humor...an exuberant collection of captivating and charmingly bizarre stories that promise to burrow their way into your heart and soul."

I disagree.  I really enjoyed Kevin Wilson's novel, The Family Fang, so I thought I'd give this book a try. Plus, the cover was interesting. Unfortunately the inside of Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine was not as interesting as the cover.

I just didn't connect with or relate to any of the stories, which I think might be a good thing because they were all pretty dark, strange, and unsettling. There were a few I liked reading more than others, but ultimately I'm not even sure why I finished the book other than that it was there. If you're into dark, strange, & unsettling stories perhaps you'll like this collection. Sadly, I did not.