The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

Amy  

historical fiction

Odile is a young woman in 1939 Paris where she is a proud librarian at the American Library under the direction of real-life Dorothy Reeder. Odile becomes part of the resistance fighting against the Nazi’s destruction of information and delivering materials to Jews and other people who have been banned from utilizing the library. In 1983, she is living alone in Montana and is the neighbor of a middle-schooler named Lily. The Paris Library focuses on Odile’s life, mainly told through two viewpoints, Odile’s in WWII Paris and Lily’s in 1980s America. There are some additional viewpoints peppered throughout the novel to contribute to the full picture.

This story had a slow beginning for me. Around the 1/3 mark, it finally got interesting. I wanted to find out what happened to Odile when the war arrived and how she ended up in the United States. As Janet Skeslien Charles eloquently stated during a post-novel interview on the audiobook, this novel showed how relationships and words can change people’s lives. It highlighted the American Library and how its employees and subscribers survived the Nazi occupation in Paris.  Several of the characters in this novel were endearing and the tale was intriguing once it kicked in.

The narrator voicing Lily, Nicky Diss, was either not a native American speaker or had spent a lot of time in England based on her pronunciations of “everything” (EV-ri-thing), “anything” (EH-ni-thing) and “cemetery” (SE-me-tree). Other than these slips with her accent, she was a good voice actor. I give her an A-.

Odile’s narrator, Sarah Feathers, spoke with a British accent unless she was specifically voicing someone French. This was irritating since Odile is French. Plus, she had a bit of audible saliva which I never enjoy. Her voice acting was good except during longer dialogues where she delivered many of the lines relatively un-animatedly and it was difficult to keep track of who was speaking. I give her a B-.

There was a third narrator, Esther Wane, handling all the other additional viewpoints and she did a fine job but I didn’t hear enough of her to really make a fair assessment of her work.

I will say that there were a few times voices were on the telephone and I loved the way the audiobook producer made their voices sound like they were coming from a tin can. Bravo to the producers!

   

700 Sundays by Billy Crystal

Amy  

memoir

This is Billy Crystal’s memoir about growing up in New York City and only getting about 700 Sundays’ worth of time with his father before his death.

The book was humor-filled, as you would expect. As I read it, it was so easy to imagine Crystal speaking these lines out loud to an audience. I really just enjoyed getting to learn about his childhood and how he knew early that he wanted to be a performer. I also liked his memories of his relatives, some with incredible careers and connections. I was really interested to learn about his love of sports and his early experiences with jazz legends thanks to his uncle’s business savvy.

Crystal is a comedian and the story was told with his signature humor, often far-fetched exaggerations interspersed within the tales. But his touching segments about the losses of each of his parents were really heartfelt and brought tears to my eyes. Truly, the memoir covers much more than the Sundays with his dad.

   

The Songbook of Benny Lament by Amy Harmon

Amy  

historical fiction

The Songbook of Benny Lament is the story of (no surprise) Benny Lament—a 1960s songwriter/singer and his collaboration and romance with singer Esther Mine.  In between the chapters of his story are brief snippets from an interview between Benny and a radio station disc jockey that takes place in 1969. These interview sections, looking back on the prior 9 years of Benny’s life, serve to provide a little forecasting of the direction of the main story as well as insight into the public knowledge of Benny’s and Esther’s lives vs. the full truth.

I enjoyed the character of Benny and his back story a lot. The story of Benny and Esther was fun and their relationship was volatile. If a reader only read the interview sections, they’d get an abbreviated version of the novel. But the meat of the novel dives into the details so the reader understands the challenges Benny was facing during the 9-year period, including those related to the larger civil rights battles of the times.

His story included several real-life famous musicians and music industry professionals which was fun. I liked his matter-of-fact understanding of the downsides of his family’s mob ties and his attempts to steer clear of them as much as possible while walking the thin line. I loved the musical story as well as the song lyrics.

I liked the novel but it was a mild tale compared to most of the other Amy Harmon novels I’ve read. I’ve appreciated Harmon’s musicality in all of her books but this was only the second one where the music was a main character.

   

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Amy  

romance

Gavin’s marriage is in trouble and his best friend convinces him to join a book club made up of a bunch of men, mostly professional athletes, who read romance novels in order to help them better understand women’s desires and to keep the women in their lives happy.

This was such a silly premise I hesitated to try it. But The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams was recommended on a published list as something that would be good for book clubs to read. So, I gave it a try. It’s cute. It’s predictable. It’s fluff. I disagree that it makes a good book for discussion. But, for what it’s worth, I do agree that if men read more romance novels it could only help their relationships. I also liked the concept of male friends being there to support each other.

The audiobook was narrated by two narrators. Andrew Eiden was the main narrator and he had a good vocal repertoire and did a great job voice acting. My only complaint was that he sounds so much like Jack Nicholson that he was distracting. I give him an A-. Maxwell Caulfield narrated the sections of the romance novel Gavin was reading and his voice was perfectly cast for this role even though it wasn’t a very challenging one. I give him a B+.

   

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel

Amy  

fiction, young adult

Three sisters—triplets—have different physical and mental abilities and live in a very small town in which many residents have various medical problems.  There used to be a chemical plant in the town which had, apparently, poisoned them.

One Two Three sucked me in immediately. Or, rather, the main characters and their situations sucked me in immediately. You might think this would be a depressing story. But the way it is written, it is actually quite hopeful and filled with lovable characters.

I loved the creativity of the story line, the crafting of the tale between the three sisters’ points of view, and the themes of acceptance, diversity, appreciation, survival, adaptability, accommodation, and accountability. Not only was the central family a pleasure to get to know, but so were a few of their friends in town. I had heard about a similar real-life situation and this novel’s immersion into the residents’ reality was enlightening. As with the other novel I read by Laurie Frankel (This Is How It Always Is), the humor peppered throughout the tense situations was a joy. She is so good at sharing and explaining the viewpoints of those people who would otherwise be in the margins, misunderstood, and “undervoiced” (which is a term she, herself, mentioned in the audio interview after the novel). I truly appreciate her writing style and her topic choices.

The audiobook was very well done with three different actresses voicing the three sisters. I thought they were all good voice actors. They didn’t all have equal range of voice repertoires but they were a credit to the novel. I give the ensemble Jesse Vilinsky, Emma Galvin, and Rebecca Soler an A-. My favorite was Emma Galvin, who voiced Monday. She was perfectly cast!  The other thing I loved was that Mirabel’s speech-generated voice was actually engineered that way in the production. It made it seem much more authentic. I was very pleasantly surprised when the audiobook producer interviewed the author at the end of the audiobook and they discussed this very topic!  I was impressed with the producer’s decisions with this audiobook.

   

Realm Breaker and Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker #1, #2 ) by Victoria Aveyard

Amy  

fantasy, young adult

In Realm Breaker, Corayne has been raised by a close friend of the family while her mother, an infamous pirate, has mostly been absent while living her own adventures. Corayne never knew her father and is surprised to learn that her father’s family’s bloodline is special. She is needed to save the world from an evil man who is determined to tear open hidden, dangerous realms and force his rule over everyone.

After some initial confusion with many characters being introduced at the very beginning of the audiobook, I was glad it wasn’t too long before I was able to follow what was happening once the chapters finally starting focusing on a few characters at a time. The characters were terrific and I loved the alliance of a diverse group of people fighting against evil. However, while I adored spending time with all of the characters, something about the story, or the descriptions of their activities, really bugged me. I’ve spent some time trying to define exactly what it was about this novel that prevents me from rating it higher. While the realm framework was a creative idea, I guess I just had trouble understanding the rules of the universe(s). And some sections were tedious with description while others were not descriptive enough.  Through much of the novel, I just wanted to finish and was sure that I’d never be interested in reading the sequel. But, after reading the whole novel, I’ve decided that I probably will give it a try because I do love the characters Victoria Aveyard created.

I listened to the audiobook for the first half of the novel and read the second half on my Kindle.  The audiobook is narrated by Natalie Naudus and she was amazing! Her voice repertoire is huge and diverse. She has many different accents up her sleeve and can also do male-sounding voices. I was extremely impressed and, even though I only enjoyed her narration for half of the novel, I give her an A+!

Amy   

young adult, fantasy, adventure

Picking up where Realm Breaker stopped, Corayne and her crew continue to try to stop the evil, power-hungry queen and her demon-hosting husband in their ruthless pursuit of world domination.

Blade Breaker is a travelling, identifying allies, and battling the enemy sort of story. It didn’t introduce any major storylines, either, so it felt like filler for extending the story into multiple sequels. I doubt I’ll be reading the next installment.

The audiobook narrator, Natalie Naudus, was outstanding. She was the best part of this novel. She has a huge range of voices and was a perfect voice actor. She gets an A+.

   

Graphic Novels: Skyward, Marvel Verse: Shang Chi, and Y: The Last Man

Recently found myself with a handful of graphic novels available at the library, so I went on a little binge read.  -Lynnie 

 

Skyward, Volumes 1-3 by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett (contributor), and Antonio Fabella (contributor)

I enjoyed this series quite a bit. A quick 3-volume read which certainly left the door open for more adventures in the low-g universe of Skyward. The characters, the art, the story- everything came together to make this a really accessible graphic title. I enjoyed Henderson's imagination and seeing how his characters and animals adjusted to a world with low gravity.  It was impossible not to cheer for Willa & Edison but if I have one complaint it's that the story felt rushed.

On the one hand, I appreciate when a story isn't dragged out artificially, but the last issue or two seemed to move at hyper speed in order to wrap up all the major storylines. Still, it's a great short series and I enjoyed it immensely.

 

Marvel Verse: Shang Chi  by Fred Van Lente

I haven't really read a lot of Shang-Chi books so perhaps this low rating is my own misguided expectations. This was one of the only Shang Chi books my library had so I thought it might be a good way to get to know the character before the Marvel film is released. Sadly, it's not. In most of the stories collected here, Shang-Chi is a secondary character. So, I'll have to keep looking for some different volumes to help me get to know the character better. Perhaps if you're more well-versed in Shang-Chi's story, this will be a satisfying collection.

 

 

Y: The Last Man by Brian K.    
Vaughan, Pia Guerra, and 
Jose Marzan, Jr.        

I read this series in the early 2000s when it was originally released and it has been a favorite since the first read. I wanted to remind myself of the storyline before the TV show is FINALLY released (seriously, I've been waiting decades for them to make this happen) & everything in it holds up. In fact, some bits feel even more relevant with the current COVID pandemic in the back of your mind as you read this. I don't know if I'll re-read the entire series, but I was very glad I picked this up & spent some more time with Yorick Brown, Ampersand, 355, & the rest of the crew. Brian K. Vaughn & Pia Guerra have truly created one of my all-time favorite comic series!

 

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Amy  

historical fiction

The Huntress follows three points of view:

- Ian is trying to locate a Nazi war criminal known as The Huntress.
- Nina was a talented Russian WWII pilot who ended up in a terrible position during the war. She aids Ian in his search because she, too, is looking for The Huntress.
- Jordan, living near Boston after the war, has gained a new step-mother with a secret German past.

I always take a deep breath and “gird my loins” before reading a WWII novel. I’ve read so many and feel I have a strong grasp of the horrors of this war. I don’t enjoy reading about the terror and evil and death. But this one promised to cover an aspect that I had not heard about before—the female Russian pilots known as the Night Witches. And, admittedly, I did enjoy learning about this fierce group of fighters. However, the many details about flying turned out to be my least favorite aspect of the novel. Predictably, the stories about the characters attracted more of my interest. Kate Quinn created some great complex personalities and quests in this story.

The three points of view woven throughout this novel were all equally engaging and held my interest. I loved the strong female characters especially.  They were driven, motivated, and smart. The story jumped around the timeline a bit into each character’s past and present—moving between pre-war, mid-war, and post-war. But these jumps were easy to follow.

The audiobook narrator was Saskia Maarleveld. She always does a terrific job narrating and this novel was no exception. She’s a terrific voice actor with a large vocal repertoire and fantastic accents. She gets an A+!