The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

 

Amy   
Lynnie

contemporary fiction

In The Lager Queen of Minnesota, J. Ryan Stradal tells the story of a family in Minnesota centered around two sisters who were in high school in the 1950s. The story spans time through 2018. The novel also covers a lot of information about beer making and marketing which was mostly interesting. 

Amy's Review

This one never gained momentum for me. If this novel were a beer it would be a Miller Lite—fine but kinda boring. The pacing was slow. Edith, a midwestern lady who grew up on a farm and had middling life expectations and low self esteem just wasn’t very exciting to read about. Her sister, Helen, was much more full of life and energy. But she made a selfish decision, became a terrible character at the turn of a page, and was not heard from much again.

Basically, I didn’t love the story structure. Most of the characters were emotionless and rudderless. It didn’t make for an exciting story. I also felt that the author didn’t really understand his female characters. The men, Orval, Frank, and Andy, were the most thoughtful, supportive characters. Whereas most of the women just sort of existed and “made do” and were victims of their lives. Helen started out interesting but then she failed. The one exception was Diana who got more interesting as the story progressed. But then she was taken out of commission around the ¾ mark. At that point, the story finally developed some momentum. But it felt like the ending was the meat of the story but the setup had gone on for too long—a beer that had grown warm, if you will. 

I’m tempted to give it 2-1/2 stars because I kept being annoyed by issues. But I’ll boost it up because I liked the grandma story line very much.

Lynnie's Review 

There was a lot to like about The Lager Queen of Minnesota, but also a lot to be frustrated by. Individually, I enjoyed the stories of Edith, Helen, and Diana, but I never felt like Stradal gave me enough of anyone's story to really be invested in them. Just when something interesting would start to happen the narrative would make both a time and character jump and I'd be left wondering why the story had to be cut off.

I particularly enjoyed Diana's story, especially as it intersected with Edith's, but as with the rest of the book I felt like there was a lot of story left unexplored. About midway through the book I decided that if Helen weren't even a character, it wouldn't change the novel at all & the end of the book, however inevitable, did nothing to change that opinion.

It's a sweet story overall, but very superficial.

 

A Star is Bored by Byron Lane

Amy  

fiction 

A Star is Bored is the story of a man who lands the dream job he never knew he needed, working as a personal assistant for a famous actress.  The description says it is loosely based on the author, Byron Lane’s, time working as Carrie Fisher’s personal assistant in real life. Then it goes out of its way at the beginning to disclaim that characters and events are purely fictional. However, I still pictured Carrie Fisher as the actress throughout the entire novel since he gave her a backstory so similar to Carrie Fisher’s.  So one can’t help but wonder how much of this is really fiction.

This is a very endearing tale of a man who had a miserable childhood and has no real sense of self-worth but learns to appreciate life while helping a spoiled, troubled, unrealistic, addict stay alive.  It’s simultaneously about the crazy lifestyles of the rich and famous and the more personal story of a man who is able to save himself with a little help.  His growth, good intentions, and kindness make the reader fall in love with him. His heartwarming journey is balanced by the actress’ story which is self-harming and unrepentant.  I really enjoyed the contrasts and the lessons learned by the characters.

I had not expected to like this novel since I’m not one to care much about individual entertainers’ personal lives. But since it was a book club book with a promise to be a “lighter read”, given all the worry and strife in our real lives these days, I gave it a try. And I’m so glad I did! I really enjoyed it.

The audiobook narrator, Noah Galvin, was terrific. His voice acting was spot on and his voice repertoire was impressive, especially female voices! However, he had several "after the fact" insertions where it sounded like he went back to re-record a few segments and they sounded completely foreign in the midst of the original recording--a different voice timbre and in a different recording space. Poor form on the production. Therefore, I can't give him more than an A.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Amy 

fiction

American Dirt describes the journey to America made by Lydia and her 8-year old son, Luca, after they barely escape execution by a drug cartel which killed their entire family in Acapulco, Mexico.

This novel is tough to read at times. It illuminates the way cartels are destroying central American cities and convincing migrants to head for America. If they stay where they are, they face being killed or being forced into working for/being slaves to the cartel leaders. “They fled violence and poverty, gangs more powerful than their governments.”  Many of these people choose to aim for the chance of freedom in America instead. The migrants face many dangers along the way and are preyed upon by evil people. If the drug cartels don’t find them, there are criminals robbing, assaulting, raping, and killing them simply because they can. There are the inherent dangers of jumping on/off moving cargo trains as well as the natural dangers in extreme climate and terrain environments. If they make it to the border, not only do they have US immigration to deal with but also vigilante Americans killing for fun.

I had heard about Mexican people dying in trucks, discoveries of mass graves, and student groups missing in Mexico, but it was so far removed from my life that I never had taken much time to truly understand the people, their motivations, and their realities.  This was very eye-opening, gripping, and suspenseful. It’s the sort of novel you hate to keep reading sometimes but you can’t not continue. I’ve definitely learned a lot and now appreciate their plight more than I did before. Jeanine Cummins and her promotional tactics have gained a lot of criticism but I feel the novel does a great job at educating the otherwise far-removed American about the situation south of the border. I’m glad I read it!

  

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Amy   

Lynnie

 

romance

Amy's Review:

January and Gus were college writing rivals who could not get along.  Then, in their late twenties, they end up living in beach houses next to each other while trying to write their new novels.

You know how Beach Read will turn out but it was a light read which I needed.  The thing that irked me about it is that the main character is one of THOSE people.  She has an unopened envelope containing a, presumably, critically explanatory letter that she doesn’t have the guts/nerves to open.  She has inherited a house that she can’t bother to investigate for fear of getting to know its former inhabitants better than she is “ready” to know them.  SERIOUSLY!!??? I do not like this literary device of a character not taking advantage of critical information just to string along the reader and force a mystery.  In real life, no one would ever not open a letter from someone they loved for 7 months nor would they reside in a house without at least walking through every room.  Ridiculous. But I forced myself to overlook this manipulation of reality and forged ahead. 

It was a cute romance story by Emily Henry but it got a bit whiny.  The characters were so insecure that it was painful at times. On a good note, as a book about writers, I was glad that it didn’t get stuffy and cerebral (which often happens) and its references to real-life successful authors/novels were of popular, current ones. So, I definitely didn’t think it was spectacular but it also allowed me to escape reality for a while.

The audiobook was narrated by Julia Whelan and she did a great job with different voices for different characters and believable voice acting.  I give her an A. I’ve heard several other books she’s narrated and she always does a fine job.

Lynnie's Review:

 

Beach Read was not my favorite Emily Henry book, nor was it my favorite book about book people this year. That said, it was still a fun, breezy romance - predictable, sweet characters, happily ever after, yada yada.

I enjoyed the story and the bet between Gus and January. At times their relationship was sweet, but MY GOSH, I have little patience for female characters who have low self-esteem and serious jealousy issues. Holy cow - can we normalize open communication, please?

When the characters were happy, this was a fun story, but I quickly got tired of January's fits of self-doubt and jealousy over Gus when, in my opinion, he had given her no reason to doubt him. Honestly, if I were Gus I would have told her to get over herself and call me when she's sorted through it. So, yey for Gus for his patience.

It wasn't a bad book, not at all. Mostly I was annoyed by January, despite her awesome name.

I both read the book & listened to the audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Julia Whelan - as always she did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life an differentiating their voices. She is always a joy to listen to and I give her narration an A.

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger, edited by Lilly Dancyger

 

Lynnie 

non-fiction, essays

Anger, specifically women's anger, is often criticized. Women who are vocally angry are called bitch, shrew, shrill, while men who express anger are strong, forceful, and powerful.

The 22 essays in Burn It Down, edited by Lilly Dancyger, are diverse not only in the demographics and culture of their authors but in the experiences they discuss. Essays are about how anger is expressed, or often withheld, based on a variety of inner calculations that most other people, particularly men, never consider. Women who are black, transgender, suffer from invisible illness, are visibly disabled, come from dysfunctional homes, experience sexual and/or physical violence, and even the anger that comes when our bodies enter menopause all experience and embrace the anger of not only their circumstances but of themselves. The inextricable link between anger and sadness, fear, and guilt is discussed throughout the book. 

I recognized myself in many of the essays and the words of these authors. Their essays made me both furious and understood while demonstrating that embracing our anger can be empowering and revelatory. As Leslie Jamison wrote in the essay , Lungs Full of Burning, "This anger isn't about deserving. It's about necessity: what needs to boil us out of bed and billow our dresses, what needs to burn in our voices, glowing and fearsome, fully aware of its own heat."

 

 

Running Barefoot by Amy Harmon

Amy   

romance

Josie and Samuel become friends on the school bus but their age difference mandates that Samuel needs to sever ties when he graduates. Years later after becoming a Marine, Samuel returns to Josie’s small town to visit his grandparents.

You know what’s going to happen.  It’s no mystery.  But it sure takes a while to get there. Running Barefoot is a very chaste romance novel.  The first half is about a high school relationship which was sweet but didn't grab me.  This is the first novel of Amy Harmon’s that I haven’t felt was completely unique. It is also my least favorite by far. I think it was one of her first novels, judging by the publishing date. All the other novels I’ve read have had common factors but the stories are completely different.  This one felt a lot like a combination of two of her other novels, A Different Blue and Making Faces. These two novels were published the year after Running Barefoot.  So, I guess working through Running Barefoot helped her make the other two novels better.  I would recommend those two novels but not this one.  It was long and full of tangential tales and written letters which, in my opinion, sucked any momentum from the main storyline.  Harmon definitely improved her novel-writing skills after this one.  It still has her signature wonderful characters and she definitely has always been good about describing romance and love.

The audiobook was narrated by Tavia Gilbert who has also narrated two other Amy Harmon novels I’ve heard, including A Different Blue.  She’s really great at a variety of voices and accents and male voices.  I give her an A+.

   

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Amy 

post-apocalyptic

Station Eleven looks at the world 20 years after a deadly pandemic. The disease spread at an astounding rate and killed patients the same day symptoms appeared.  Most people on Earth were dead within a month. The novel spotlighted the lives of a few survivors in order to give the reader a rich impression of their pre- and post-pandemic realities.

A deadly pandemic is not an unusual concept for a book. However, this novel felt very unique because of all the individual choices Emily St. John Mandel made in order to tell this story. Focusing on actors and artists surprisingly worked!  I thought the choice to not dwell on the pandemic itself was brilliant. I originally thought the focus on a traveling symphony/acting troupe was odd but the travelers’ views of the post-apocalyptic world were ideal for telling this story. With people so spread out, those who traveled would have had a richer experience of the various survival lifestyles.

I really loved the way the author switched gears, timeframes, and characters frequently yet seamlessly.  She had me eating out of the palm of her hand in order to get more of the backstory and understand how the characters arrived in their current circumstances.  I thought her vision of a post-apocalyptic world was realistic and actually much more positive than many others about which I’ve read. Usually, those novels highlighted the terrible aspects of human behavior rather than the human desire to live in peace and harmony. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a novel where the focus of the story took place so long after the catastrophic event either. It was so compelling.

This novel made me think a lot about the uncertainty of our future. Especially given the fact that we are currently surviving a pandemic (thankfully, not one as deadly as in Station Eleven), it made me think about what I would do in a post-pandemic world that looked totally different than my world today. There were so many different layers to the story. Lots of characters were centrally tied to one of the characters and were all woven together in a captivating narrative.

The narrator, Kirsten Potter, did a terrific job. I liked her voice and acting a lot! However, she didn’t really have a repertoire of different voices, per se. She did have different accents which were good. I’ll give her an A.

   

The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill

Amy  

young adult, mystery

It’s 1924 in Chicago and 18-year old Piper’s best friend goes missing.  Because she cannot sit back and do nothing while the trail goes cold, Piper does everything she can to aid the handsome detective and performs her own investigations to get to the bottom of the crime.

I’ve had this novel, The Lost Girl of Astor Street, for several years since picking it up at the ALA Midwinter Convention in 2017 and just finally got around to reading it.  It’s an appealing young adult mystery including all the fun of the flapper era, speakeasies, and prohibition.  The characters were charming and very of their time.  I enjoyed the historical perspective and Piper’s vivacious, intelligent spirit. I can see how young women would really enjoy this novel, especially, with the chaste sexual tension and several suitors. The story-building was expertly done by Stephanie Morrill.

 

All These Monsters by Amy Tintera

Lynnie

young adult, science fiction

All These Monsters was a quick and easy read by Amy Tintera. I've enjoyed several of her books in the past so I was eager to read more of her work. I particularly enjoyed her first duology Reboot and Rebel and included them in my Best of 2014 list.

The publisher's description of the book says, "Seventeen-year-old Clara is ready to fight back. Fight back against her abusive father, fight back against the only life she’s ever known, and most of all, fight back against scrabs, the earth-dwelling monsters that are currently ravaging the world. So when an opportunity arises for Clara to join an international monster-fighting squad, she jumps at the chance."
 
Tintera likes to write about the fight; her characters usually belong to some sort of misfit army and All These Monsters carries that tradition forward. In an Earth that's been invaded by violent creatures called "scrabs," both private and government groups are forming to fight the invaders and keep people safe. This book focuses on the private enterprise of monster fighting and yes, it is kind of as silly as it sounds, but it's also a lot of fun to watch. Tintera's fight scenes are always full of action and I could picture the events as I read along.

I really enjoyed the characters and particularly those in American team 7 that we spend the most time with. They were a diverse group of kids who all had one thing in common- they wanted to get away and save the world. I appreciated Tintera's light hand with the storylines concerning emotionally abusive (and  physically abusive) relationships. I think it's a message that a lot of young people need and while it was pretty easy for this older reader to see what was coming down the pike, I suspect that some younger readers may not see themselves in these types of relationships until they see it written down and can truly relate to it.

I don't know when the sequel will come out, but I'm already looking forward to it.  I'm eager to see what Clara, Edan, Madison, Patrick, Noah, and the rest if the team do next.

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

Amy   

memoir

The Water is Wide is a memoir by Pat Conroy of his time as a teacher on a small island off the coast of South Carolina in 1969.  In the novel, he calls the island Yamacraw Island even though its real name is Daufuskie Island.  Even though he named himself and his family by their real names, I assume several of the characters’ names were fictionalized.  The residents of the island, which was only reachable by boat, were mostly African Americans living in poverty.  The school had two classrooms, one for the younger children and one for the older children.  Conroy was given the older children and his co-worker/Principal taught the younger class.

I really enjoyed this story about a young, idealistic young man trying to improve the world. His heart was in the right place even if the school administrators did not see it that way. His approach to giving these children an education was not conventional and any pre-planning before his arrival was thrown out the window as soon as he realized the poor educational foundation these children had. But he did his best and earned my admiration as well as the admiration of the islanders.  The characters and their philosophies throughout the book rang true. The inherent racism was quite painful, especially since racism still exists in America 50 years later. The island’s residents hardly ever left the island and were completely unaware of the rest of the world. Conroy attempted to broaden the students’ horizons and prepare them to make the most of their potential.  I wish that he had shared the fate of the 3 students living with him at the end of the novel. Otherwise, I thought he gave a full picture of the setting, the situations, the people, the culture, the struggles, and the successes. It was a heartwarming and heartbreaking tale.