The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes

Amy                             Lynnie  

historical fiction

The Ship of Brides tells the tale of the soon-to-be-retired British aircraft carrier, Victoria, as it carried 650 Australian war brides to their new home of England following WWII.

Amy's Review

I love Jojo Moyes’ novels and this novel was no exception.  I had no idea that there were so many WWII Australian war brides and that they were delivered to their husbands in America and England via ships after the war.  I was charmed by the tale and all the characters that inhabited The Victoria.  Brides and service men alike proved to have stories worth telling and the interaction of these two populations was also fun. I enjoyed the way she spent a little attention on each character so that we got to know them better.  I also liked her crafting of the novel as a flashback which was bookended by a contemporary story which made the reader wonder which of The Victoria’s brides was the grandmother at the start and end. (Although, it wasn’t hard to figure out as the story went on.) I enjoyed knowing the ever afters for most characters too.

As one of Jojo Moyes’ earlier novels, this one did not showcase the humor for which she is known, but humor was still there, albeit in lighter shades and fewer instances.  I think I only laughed out loud once but it was still a very enjoyable and hopeful story overall. 

The audiobook was narrated by Nicolette McKenzie. She had a large variety of voices, old and young, female and male, and an impressive menu of accents: British, Australian, Indian, and Scottish among others. Her voice acting was wonderful and she had great energy. A+!

Lynnie's Review

I have mixed feelings about this book, but overall I enjoyed it. The start was VERY slow for me and I had some problems with specific details that did not make sense (one example, one of the women talks about having to resist the advances of the family friend she's staying with on one page, and on another talks about how lucky she is that her parents could put her in a nice hotel so she didn't have to stay at anyone's home...sigh). Ultimately the weird quirks like that had nothing to do with the main story so my sister convinced me to move past it and keep reading. Perhaps issues like that are due to the fact that this was one of Moyes' early books so her writing and editing were not as nuanced as her later writing.

Still, the story is interesting and following a few specific brides was a smart choice. I generally enjoyed getting to know them and learning about their journey. I won't say much more because it's hard to without spoiling the story, but if you can move past those early awkward moments, you'll be rewarded with a lovely read.

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Eragon (Tales from Alagaesia #1) by Christopher Paolini

Amy   

fantasy

This is the first in a follow-up series to the Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle) series. I was really looking forward to revisiting Eragon, Saphira, and the rest of the gang. The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm turned out to be a brief collection of three unrelated short stories that take place in Eragon’s world. 

The Fork was the best story and the only one that really held my interest.  The Witch, much of which was actually written by Christopher Paolini’s sister, was frustratingly pointless and rambling.  The Worm’s overall story arc was good but it was terribly long in the telling.  I was so bored my mind would wander while I was listening to the audiobook and when my attention came back to the narration I hadn’t even missed anything.  If this one had been told first, I probably wouldn’t have bothered finishing the book. But, since it was the last, I stuck with it.

In terms of revisiting these characters we got only the briefest visit and, instead, a whole lot of long-winded, tangential wanderings.  Therefore, I was overall dissatisfied with this book. I might read the next one whenever it comes out but probably not. Bummer.

Thankfully, the fabulous Gerard Doyle reads the audiobook as he did the original four novels in The Inheritance Cycle series.  He does a great job with The Fork and The Witch.  Unfortunately, as a dwarf-based story, The Worm is read in “dwarf-speak” which is rough and quite emotionless as is the nature of the dwarves.  This, along with the fact that the story really dragged, was not a good combination.  I hate to count this against Doyle’s talents and devotion to the material.  Alas, I cannot give him an A+ due to my dissatisfaction with The Worm.  I’ll give him an A for this one.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Amy  

historical fiction

Pachinko described the lives of four generations of a Korean family from the early 1900s through the late 1900s. This popular novel had an extremely slow start and ramping up period.  The third person narrative was very matter-of-fact and the characters were flat at the beginning.  The people were traditional in manner, followed the rules and traditions, and the story was, frankly, boring.  Thankfully, the novel got more interesting as the story moved along the timeline and the more modern characters became developed.  I began to care about a few of them which kept me reading.

I had not known anything about Korean history nor about the lives of struggling Koreans who fled to Japan where they were treated terribly. Then, even if their descendants were born in Japan, the children were not considered Japanese citizens.  Japan’s and Korea's histories were provided as a backdrop and I appreciated how Min Jin Lee gave the reader a good idea of the political and social environments in a way that the story kept moving along smoothly.  I’ve seen plenty of authors fail to do this successfully when they slid into “textbook mode” to give a history lesson.

However, some of the sections were still tedious and the book’s pacing was much slower than I like. Despite that, it provided an intriguing view into the lives of 20^th century Koreans and taught me a lot I hadn’t known. I admired the characters’ family loyalty, strong work ethic, and resilience.

The audiobook was narrated by Allison Hiroto.  The material was fairly dry and so was her delivery.   I wouldn’t go so far as to say she sounded robotic, but she also wasn’t overly animated.  She didn’t have many different voices and dialogues were sometimes difficult to follow because of that. I’ll give her a B-.

Educated by Tara Westover

Amy                       Lynnie

  

nonfiction

This is the author's memoir about her family and the unusual way in which they were raised "off the grid" without education or interaction with the broader world.


Amy's Review

Hmm. This nonfiction book gave great insight into a truly alternate world where the children were raised by a father who was a bipolar dictator of his family and ruled in the name of his extreme religious beliefs. The children were unknowing hostages, did not go to school (nor were they properly home-schooled), and were completely ignorant to ideas outside of what their father taught them.  They were not permitted basic medical health care by professionals.  Instead, the father forced their mother to learn midwifery and act as a healer. I despise egotistical morons who make life worse for everyone else and it pained me to read about the father and this family. Amazingly three of the children were strong enough to break away and get college educations, including Tara Westover, the author. Yet, she suffered greatly during her efforts to enlighten herself and break from her parents’ way of ignoring reality and discounting her feelings. It’s a tragic tale. 

However, I found Educated to be pretty slow reading.  I had expected so much more from this book based on the accolades and praise.  To me, it was similar to The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, only not as engaging or compelling.  It was similarly infuriating but in a less visceral way.  The story was just a gradual train wreck where I found myself shaking my head with increasing frequency the more I read.  So, while I agree that there is much to discuss (and I did read this for book club), it’s not my kind of book. 

Lynnie's Review

This book was on my radar for a while with lots of recommendations from friends.  I found Tara Westover's story fascinating; to say that her upbringing was unconventional is an understatement and I finished ultimately inspired by her growth and ability to overcome the obstacles life placed in front of her.

If I didn't know otherwise I would have thought this was a work of fiction.  Westover's life story is often unbelievable and I regularly found myself unable to even imagine how she and her siblings must have felt through their childhood.  I was particularly disturbed by some of the serious medical emergencies this family experienced, even though for the most part they emerged with little permanent physical damage.  This is not the type of book I would normally read, but in this case I'm glad that I did.  It may not have been Westover's intended message, but her story gives me hope that whatever my choices in life may be, my children will find a way to be their best selves. 

Impostors by Scott Westerfeld

Lynnie

young adult, series, fantasy

Taking place in the world of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, but set an unknown period of time after the events of that series, Impostors is the story of twin sisters, Frey and Rafi, who were raised by a controlling father to be one person- Rafi is the public face while Frey is her body double, taking Rafi's place whenever a situation seems potentially dangerous.  

I was looking for an audio book with lots of action for a road trip and Impostors was a good choice. I had read most of Westerfeld's Uglies series and remember enjoying a few of the books quite a bit so I decided to give this one a try. Clearly, knowledge of the Uglies series is not necessary to enjoy Impostors- there were mentions occasionally of some of the original characters and the events of that series, but it's not urgent that you know them which is good since I've forgotten all the details.

Impostors is a just a great adventure with some stereotypical YA tropes- the reluctant romance, the female character with low self-esteem who's tougher than she looks (and boy is she in Frey's case!), the poorly held secrets- it's all in there, but it's still fun to watch it unfold. Thérèse Plummer does a wonderful job narrating and her voices are clear and easily distinguishable. The characters are an interesting mix of people including one ungendered character who I wish we had learned more about. The main characters, Frey and Col, are easy to like which helped hold my attention throughout my long drive.

While I'm not chomping at the bit for the next chapter of this series, I am likely to read it (or listen to it) when it comes out. I'm curious enough about the characters and the situation they were in at the end to want to know what happens next.

The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air series) by Holly Black

Amy   

fantasy, young adult, action/suspence

The Cruel Prince is one of those novels that requires a big leap of faith to believe the premise.  And I REALLY had a hard time accepting Jude’s situation.  She was spirited away to Faerie when her half-sister’s Faerie father murdered Jude’s parents. She is raised by this murderer and lives in constant fear as a human living in Faerie. However, at the point in the story where the action starts, she has the ability to return to the human world at any time. Yet, she refuses to escape and flee to a safer life simply because it is now “the unknown” whereas Faerie feels like home because she’s lived there ten years.  She has nothing enjoyable about her current life except swordplay and fighting (because it makes her feel like she has some power) and has no one for whom to stay except her siblings, and only one of them actually treats her well. Personally, her misguided choices were hard for me to swallow.  The power she DOES have—to LEAVE Faerie—is, apparently, not sufficient. I had to accept that Jude has the sort of personality that is willing to do anything to gain some small amount of control over her life to the point that she almost has a self-harming desire. She gets off on conflict and refuses to back down or admit defeat. 

However, when I was able to force myself to accept Jude and her world, I was actually quite intrigued by this dark story.  Jude is willing to put in the work to make herself stronger and more educated in an effort to reach her ultimate goal of having more protection from harm and more power. Ya gotta like an empowered young woman. And there were several fun twists in the story.  Unfortunately, most of the characters are pretty flat.  So, I am quite torn about how to rate this novel.  I don’t like the framework of Holly Black's story but I like the telling of it. I’m interested by a few of the characters but not most of them. I’m not sure how to reconcile. The ending was really climactic and compelling.  I want to read the next sequel and see where it goes. I guess I’ll go with slightly above average rating because I am hungry for more despite the flaws. 

The audiobook narrator was Caitlyn Kelly.  I thought she did a great job with some different voices and with the voice acting.  However, the production of this audiobook was error-riddled.  There were several times when it sounded like she inserted some phrases after the fact into the ongoing file.  And, her voice was often different between chapters.  I recognize that it is hard to sound exactly the same throughout an entire novel.  Yet, I haven’t noticed this problem as much with other narrators as I did with her and it distracted me from the story.  I will give her a B+.

Amy   

As with the first novel, all the convoluted politics along with Jude’s nonsensical desire to stay in Faerie is difficult to digest in The Wicked King.  And then, I got the ending I expected.  But then it twisted after that making me want to read the next in the series! Alas, I’ll have to wait until the third novel comes out in 2020.

Not much else to say except that Caitlyn Kelly’s narration did not have the production errors that were evident in the first novel. So, I can give her a higher grade and will go with A- because I enjoy her voice acting.

Also, cool cover art!

Amy    

A good ending to a good trilogy. As with the prior two installments, I enjoyed most of The Queen of Nothing. I was happy with the ending and the various characters' maneuvers. But there isn't much more to be said about it than was said about the other novels in the series. If you like a strong, teenage, female protagonist who doesn't always make logical choices but has a lot of gusto, and you enjoy fairy tales and stories of kingdoms, I recommend it.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Amy  

Lynnie


fiction

Beautiful Ruins tells the stories of several characters whose lives intersected in quirky ways starting in an Italian village in 1962 and spanning time and continents to the present day. The story, which mostly focuses on an Italian man and an American woman, is told from different perspectives and from different time periods which always keeps things interesting. Additionally, Jess Walter wrote the story in different “mediums”--other avenues through which the story is told like a movie pitch, a chapter from an autobiography, and a play (to name a few).

Amy's Review

I had not intended to read this novel because of a mediocre Goodreads rating along with the chick-lit-like cover which turned me off. (By the way, this is not chick lit in my opinion.) I’m thrilled it was a book club selection or I likely would never have read it and I LOVED it! I was entirely charmed! It has a little something for everyone: fate, determination, war, brawls, romance, art, music, family, responsibility, drugs, wealth, poverty, fame, religion, dishonesty, truth, history, relationships, scandal, health, and love.

It was such a compelling, wonderful, crazy story with fully drawn and funny characters! I laughed out loud several times! The tale sucked me in from the start. The author has a gift with wit and words. I enjoyed his many similes near the beginning. I don’t know if the frequency of similes dropped off as the story continued or I just got so drawn into the story that I didn’t notice them. He used fabulous adjectives throughout also. Truly—he had fun with words and I ate them up. I loved the crafting of the story and the way the ending completed story arcs for not only the main characters but all the smaller characters too. I hadn’t even known I needed their endings but I loved having them. The novel touched me and speaks to people’s choices, philosophies, strengths, weaknesses, and desires. Pasquale Tursi has found a place in my heart forever.

The audiobook was narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and I think he was perfect. He set the quirky tone right off the bat by not sounding serious. He was a bit over-the-top and perhaps too dramatic-sounding at times….like more upbeat than warranted or more melodramatic or formal than necessary. Yet his was an inviting tone and, I believe, made me enjoy the novel more than I would have if reading the book myself. During the character dialogue, his voice acting was terrific. He carried many different voices and accents. And, I can’t help but feel that Mr. Ballerini is a fun guy. I may go seeking more novels that he has narrated in order to see if he’s always this way or just for Beautiful Ruins. Or perhaps it was just the material that prompted him to narrate this way. Either way, he made the right acting choices. I give him an A+. I also think Jess Walter must be a fun guy! And, he answered some interview questions at the end of the audiobook in his own deep voice at the end. He used the word “braided” to describe the way this tale is woven from different strands and that description is truly accurate.


Lynnie's Review

I've had this book in my "to read" pile for a while but the chick-lit cover kept it from ever being on the top of the pile.

Once I got into it though I mostly enjoyed it. The settings are wonderful to imagine and, for the most part, I liked the characters. There were some parts of the book I could have done without (the entire chapter of Alvis Bender's book, for example, added nothing to the story in my opinion), but seeing how all the characters fit together was fun to unravel. I particularly enjoyed the chapters that focused on Pasquale and Dee as their stories were the most well-developed.

The chapters are long which contributed to the time it took me to read this book- where in another book I would stay awake to read another chapter, in this book I would see that the chapter ahead would take 45 minutes to read (thanks Kindle!) and put the book down instead.  On the plus side, I went to bed much earlier every night. It wasn't a book that ever gripped me and compelled me to continue. I'm glad I read it, though, and it is certainly a good reminder that I should not judge a book by its cover.