Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Amy   

women's fiction

Lara, Joe, and their three 20-something year old daughters are stuck together on the family cherry farm during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Over the course of several days, Lara tells her daughters about her experiences as an actress in her youth.  Her story is centered around her magical summer at Tom Lake in Michigan where she did a summer stock theater and had a romantic relationship with a man who would go on to become a world-famous movie star.

Lara’s memories of her lucky breaks, her fun summer fling, and the people in her life were mildly engaging.  Her family members were likeable and the novel was well-told with just the right amount of things being cleverly divulged along the way. It was a pleasant story but could be boring at times. Lara never had big plans for her life and basically lucked into her short acting career and then lucked out of it. She ended up where circumstances took her without making any large efforts to steer her own way. The last 10% or so of the book was the best part. Ann Patchett’s novels are so different from each other and I never know exactly what to expect. I would say this is not one of my favorites she’s written but I certainly didn’t dislike it. It just didn’t wow me.

The best part was the audiobook narration by Meryl Streep.  She was pretty great.  She did have some vocal repertoire and, even in an audio format, her acting was superb. (Not all famous actors make the best audio book narrators.) I kept thinking about how ironic it was that she was reading the point of view of an actress and the story mentioned some real people who are probably her friends in real life.  The part that really made me chuckle was that she had to read about non-singing actors getting parts in musicals. (For those who don’t know, Streep herself, was cast in the movie Mamma Mia and wasn't a great singer!) Thankfully, since I know her (lack of) singing talent, she did not sing the lines from a few songs mentioned in the novel. I think I would have normally given her an A- but, since I am pretty sure I liked this book much better in audio format than I would have reading it myself, I’ll bump her performance to an A for making this an enjoyable experience.

   

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Amy  

historical fiction

The people who live around The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store in the Chicken Hill area of Pottstown, Pennsylvania in the 1930s don’t have an easy life. But the immigrant Jews and African Americans do have a sense of community. They come through for each other when it matters. For example, when the grocery store owner is ill, people rally to help her. When an orphaned deaf boy is being hunted by a poorly managed government-run facility, the community tries to protect him as best they can. When tragedy strikes, everyone in the village does something to seek justice.

Similar to the other book I read by James McBride, Deacon King Kong, this is a novel about the people in a struggling community. It’s full of characters presented as short stories that all fall underneath the larger story arc involving all of the inhabitants. In the end, everyone contributes in some way to set things on the right path. The people in the book jump off the page. They feel authentic and I couldn’t help but care about them. I understand why so many people love this book which illustrates how, in fact, it takes a village. For me, it was good but slower paced than I prefer, especially the first half.

The audiobook narrator, Dominic Hoffman, usually does a nice job. In this one, however, he had a lot of accents to perform—some more successfully than others.  I often had difficulty understanding which character was speaking in dialogues.  I’ve graded him higher in the past but I’m giving him a B+ for this one.

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Amy  

historical fiction

The Island of Missing Trees is the story of a family from Cyprus. Now living in London, Ada was born to Cyprian parents, a Greek Catholic father and a Turkish Muslim mother.  She is a high-schooler and dealing with stress and grief from the death of her mother less than a year earlier. Her mother’s previously absent sister comes to visit over the winter break. Through flashbacks and conversations, as well as sections narrated by a fig tree that Ada’s father, Kostas, has lovingly brought from Cyprus, we learn the history of Ada’s family and contentious home country.

This family drama educated me about Cyprus, about which I had previously known nothing, and its divided capital city of Nicosia. The story became more interesting as the book progressed and ended up drawing me in.  I wasn’t as enamored with the lessons about trees and animals but they helped to set the tone of the story and give us further insight into Kostas. Having the tree sections was a creative way for Elif Shafak to include historical and political background organically.

It wasn’t quick-paced. Nor was there an element of mystery or expectation that compelled me to move forward with the book. But the novel gently educated me while keeping my interest piqued. The aunt’s arrival definitely pulled me in since she was so unique and a source of history for Ada. Shafak expertly jumped timeframes to give the reader morsels of interest and intrigue. And everyone seemed improved by the end of the novel which made me happy.

I both read the novel and listened to the audiobook, depending on when I had time for either version. The audiobook narrators had beautiful accents and calm, soothing voices that made me want to keep listening to them. Daphne Kouma was the main narrator who did a fine job displaying many different voices and accents for the different characters. Amira Ghazalla played the role of the fig tree very well.  I’ll give them an A.

Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros

Lynnie
Amy    

fantasy

 

Violet’s father died about a year earlier and he had groomed her to be an academic Scribe. But her mother is now insisting she become a dragon Rider, instead, after only 6 months of training. She must compete against hundreds of others who have spent their lifetimes preparing for the challenge of becoming a Rider. Violet’s mother is the feared and respected General of the country’s military forces which puts a lot of pressure on Violet and makes her a target at the Rider trials.

Lynnie's Review

I'm waffling between 3 and 4 hearts, so I've decided to split the difference. There is a lot to enjoy about Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing. Before a few months ago, I had never heard of Yarros or this series and then suddenly it seemed to be everywhere. It happened to be available at the library so I decided to check it out. Then, I stumbled upon a new service at my library, the Palace Project, where I was also able to get the audiobook, so I checked that out and was able to go back and forth between the book and audiobook which always makes a book go faster for me.

ANYWAY, overall, I enjoyed Fourth Wing. Hilariously, I thought this was a YA book. Initially, while there was plenty of talk about sex it was mostly in the "they both came out from behind the door" wink, wink, nod, nod sort of sex and then about 70% through the book I hit a VERY-not-YA-sex-scene and was surprised only because I was completely not expecting it. So, this is just for those of you who, like me, do not read other reviews or book descriptions very well. This is NOT a young adult book. Do NOT give it to your middle schooler thinking it's an adventure about dragons. Ha- I feel much better now that I've warned you.

But back to my review... I generally enjoyed this story and the world that Yarros created. The characters were interesting and and I adored any time the dragons were involved in the action. Frankly, I would like more dragons and fewer people in future books, but if I must have the people I'll be OK. While I was glad to see that Violet had some disabilities and that they made actual accommodations for her, I did not like that everyone made such a constant big deal about it. Dude, just do it and move on. That's what accessibility is all about- it shouldn't be such a dramatic event every time you get equal access!

Anyway. The reason I waffle between 3 and 4 stars is because, while I enjoyed Violet and Xaden, I also did not. Their relationship is that same toxic, co-dependent weird relationship that's often portrayed in fantasy books between people where there is a power imbalance (see Twilight, Divergent - both of which I read before we started this blog). I find it challenging to cheer for their relationship when I also find it completely off-putting. It's also hard not to notice that the Riders Quadrant is essentially Dauntless (Divergent) with dragons.

I enjoyed the secondary characters quite a bit, sometimes more than Violet and Xaden if I'm honest. There were stories that we caught glimpses of in Violet's and Xaden's friends that I would have liked to learn more about. There were some emotional gut punches in Fourth Wing for sure. Even when I saw the situation coming, I was surprised how much I didn't want to see things unfold sometimes. I will definitely read the next book, but I will give it some time because I hear there are 5 books in the series, and we all know how I feel about series. Sigh...

Overall, though, this was a fun adventure. I'm looking forward to checking in with these characters again soon and learning how some of these situations get resolved.

As for the audiobook- Rebecca Soler reads the majority of the book and I liked her voice because it was a lot like the voice in my own head; she has a very pleasing tone. However, I don't think she does a spectacular job of character voices and I sometimes had trouble distinguishing other speakers. I believe Teddy Hamilton only did the final two chapters that are from Xaden's perspective (perhaps he also did Tairn's voice?), but they were also fine. I give Rebecca a B, and didn't hear enough of Teddy to give him a grade.

Amy's Review

Fourth Wing is a fun adventure-filled fantasy about a young woman who must fight hard and use her head to succeed in a world which has been stacked against her. Dragon Rider hopefuls must survive a series of challenges, have a dragon select them to be their rider, and develop their special “signet” power in order to earn the designation of Rider. It’s daunting but Violet wants to earn her mother’s respect in spite of her improbable odds. Friends and allies become clearer with time.

One of the more popular book reviewers on Goodreads summarized it very well when she said, “Imagine Squid Game but everyone is young and hot. Does that guy with the scars and muscles want to kill you or shag you?” For those who don’t like explicit sex scenes, while they don’t fill the majority of pages in this book, they are definitely descriptive and the romance is a big part of Violet’s story.

This book kept me up way past my bedtime a few times it was so compelling! I had to find out what would happen next! And it actually had a really sad, heartfelt part that had me in tears. Was it perfect, no? (There was some eye rolling while I read it.) But I loved it! There was never a dull moment. I hadn’t heard of this book until it won the 2023 Goodreads Choice Romantasy Award. Fourth Wing didn’t just win the award, it slaughtered the competition earning 69% of all the votes that were cast in this category. That’s remarkable and is the reason why I decided to read it.  I see why so many people loved it.  It’s very entertaining!

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Lynnie

 

fantasy 

There are families who get their nourishment from books, rather than meat and vegetables, to stay alive. Once they have eaten a book, they remember everything between the covers. As children they eat fairytales, as adults they eat more practical material - books of maps, stories of bravery and business. But all is not well in the book-eating world. There are some who are born with a hunger that books can't satisfy.

 

Honestly, The Book Eaters should have been in my "do not finish" pile, but for some reason I kept reading. I loved the idea of this story and to be sure it started out strong. I was really interested in the world Sunyi Dean created and the idea of this community who subsisted on books. I enjoyed the descriptions of the taste of older books vs. newer shiny pages, the differences in the stories and how knowledge could be transferred by eating a book... all great stuff.

Some characters, like the main character, Devon, and a side character, Jarrow, were interesting enough that I wanted to learn more about them (though other than Devon, we rarely learn much about anyone). But most of the characters in the book were one-dimensional or so underdeveloped that they faded into one another. Midway through the book, I would find excuses to do things other than read- which is when I should have just put the book down for good. But I kept thinking it would pick back up again. Why did I think that? I have no idea.

Let me save you the trouble though. If you are bored, and think this is going to improve, it will not. You will simply be mad at yourself for continuing to read. It looks like there are plenty of people who loved every page of this novel and to you I say, more power to you. But a book needs more than a beautiful cover and a strong start and sadly, The Book Eaters doesn't offer anything other than that.

 

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Amy  

fiction

Lucy grew up in a home with an ill sister and parents who devoted all their love and attention to the sister. Now 26 years old, she is estranged from them, living on the other end of the country, working as an elementary school teaching assistant, and hoping she’ll be able to adopt her favorite student to get him out of foster care. The problem is that she doesn’t have the money or stability in her living situation to be approved for fostering, let alone adoption. Just when she’s about to give up hope of being Christopher’s mother, her favorite childhood author, Jack, selects her to participate in a contest which might allow her to collect some serious money.

The Wishing Game is a cute story but I spent the first half feeling like it wasn’t really believable. Perhaps it was the sappy audiobook narration and I would’ve liked it better if I’d read the book instead. But I did really enjoy the second half. I think it redeemed itself in my mind when Meg Shaffer started providing some explanations for situations that hadn't seemed authentic in the first half.  

I don’t quite understand its third place achievement in the Goodreads Choice Awards for Fiction, beating one of my favorite books of 2023. I did enjoy the whimsy, the focus on books, and the many good intentions of some characters in the book. And I liked the resolutions. I just rolled my eyes a lot while listening to the audiobook.  The ending was surprisingly touching. I guess I didn’t realize how much I liked these characters until the end.

Rachel L. Jacobs narrated most of the novel and Paul Boehmer narrated the few sections that were from Jack’s children’s books. Jacobs was overly dramatic right off the bat which made the characters come across as insincere.  I mean, I don’t disagree with the feelings of sadness and frustration she was trying to impart. It’s that it was often over the top, especially before we fully understood Lucy’s back story. Jacobs did have a vocal repertoire of different voices, but did not have a great British accent. This was unfortunate because one of the main characters was British. Between the  accent and the fact that this was a male character, she tended to mumble and talk softer when voicing him so I often had difficulty understanding what this character was saying and had to "rewind" and turn up the volume in sections where he had a lot of dialogue. She gets a C+. As for Boehmer, he read the few short sections he narrated, which were snippets from a children’s book, like a news anchor—too formally. Interestingly, I had only known him from another series where he primarily spoke with European accents. His accents were so good that I hadn’t realized until now that he is American!  Too bad he wasn’t voicing the British character in this novel. For his work here, he gets a B-.  As a side note, it was odd that his name wasn’t even mentioned in the credits at the end of the audiobook. I recommend skipping the audiobook for this novel. Better choices could have been made and I think I’d have liked the book better without these particular narrators’ interpretations.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

 

Lynnie 

contemporary fiction

 

I really enjoyed Steven Rowley's book, The Guncle, so I was glad to see another novel by him at the library. The Celebrants is a completely different type of novel and the book's description as "The Big Chill for our times" is not far off. A group of college friends' bond gets even stronger after the death of one of their friends and they make a pact that brings them back to one another in times of need.

The book is entirely about the characters, so if you need action and plot, this may not be the book for you. Is there a plot? Yes, but the plot is the characters and how they change and grow (or don't) through the years, and how their relationships with one another and with everyone else in their lives similarly change.

Thankfully, I enjoyed all of this quite a bit because characters make or break a book for me, and the celebrants are a wonderful group to spend time with. Through their ups and downs, there were several times that characters reminded me of people in my own life. The Celebrants is a reminder that life moves on, and that it will always be easier if you keep the people you love by your side when it does.