Monthly Book Review: August 2019

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng is superb! Deftly handles race, abortion, adoption, the Richardson's lives are forever changed when transient Mia and her daughter Pearl become their duplex rental tenants. The orderly world of Shaker Heights is rocked on multiple fronts.

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is raw and brutally honest. A biography of three real women: Maggie in ND who had an affair with her high school teacher and wrestling with the depth of its impact (and the trial that resulted); Lina in Indiana who is in a loveless marriage and having an affair with her high school boyfriend; and Sloane who lives in upper class New England and has sex with other people at the request of her beloved husband. The author also tells a bit of her own story, or actually it’s her mother’s. The author does not analyze the relationships, that is left to the reader. For me, it reinforced the belief that a woman’s sexuality, and very identity, is complex as a culmination of childhood experiences, cultural expectations and basic need to be seen. I most identified with Maggie - or with the author’s portrayal of her. It continues to amaze me how scrupulously women's behavior is judged vs. men’s.

Next up:
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Monthly Book Review: July 2019

I was intrigued about Daisy Jones & The Six as soon as I saw it as a Reese Witherspoon book pick. It was a nice departure after the languid and delicious (yes!) The Night Circus. Daisy chronicles a 1970s soft rock band documentary style, giving each band member’s perspective on the same events 30+ years later as the interviewer chronicles the timeline. I loved how different those perspectives could be. The author has a real gift for giving each character their own voice and emotions - you could swear these people are real. I had to google it to confirm if the band was truly fictional. I’ll be honest, it was a bit hard to get into with a different voice for each band member, but I stuck with it and was thoroughly engrossed by the third chapter. B+

Next up:
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng 
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Monthly Book Review: June 2019

I just realized that I didn’t post the one book I read in June and since I’ve already finished another, decided to log two for the month. It’s my blog and I’ll cheat if I want to. 

In Pieces by Sally Field - I expected a bit more “dish” than this served up. Sally spends a lot of time on early trauma and never explains how that shaped her as an actor or influenced her adult decisions - the reader is left to play armchair psychologist which is far more work than I was willing to do. The only costar she deemed worthy of spending significant time on is Burt Reynolds. Spoiler - he was not the love of her life. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - this was delicious, I didn’t want it to end. The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. Celia and Marco are “trained” for a competition that takes place in a circus much like Cirque du Soleil - defying feats of gravity and playing on the imagination - only more magical. The descriptive images evoked from Morgenstern’s fantastical writing create a world you want to escape into and never leave. I loved the relationships, the exploration of ‘both and’ vs ‘either or’. The rich layers rival the best buttery croissant. This is for sure at the top of my favorites list for the year thus far. A++

Next up:

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Monthly Book Review: May 2019

Only one book read last month but it was worth three. The Huntress by Kate Quinn tells the stories of three disparate characters post WWII on a Nazi hunt. Nina is a Russian pilot with dreams of more than the motherland can provide and a killer survival instinct. Ian is a British veteran hell-bent on vengeance for his younger brother and a deep love for independent women. And Jordan is a young woman with dreams and a keen sixth sense. All three lives have been forever changed by an Austrian woman with many names - Lorelei, Annalise, Anna, the huntress. This was long but necessary for character development - I was deeply invested. Justice is a deep-seated need no matter how much time has past or who gets in the way.

Next up:
In Pieces by Sally Field

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Summer Reading Guide 2019

https://modernmrsdarcy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Summer-Reading-Guide-2019.pdf

Monthly Book Review: April 2019

I'm moving into a new-to-us house with my fiance in a few weeks so my mind has been preoccupied with lighting fixtures, the virtues of wood plank vs. bamboo flooring, kitchen appliances and cabinet knobs. See how I dropped fiance in there?! Yep, I'm getting remarried. In a little less than five months so there's that to think about too.

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton - this chronicles the inhabitants of Birchwood Manor over 155 years, weaving the stories of 1862 artist muse Lily Millington/Birdie, Ada, Juliet and her children following WWII, and modern day Elodie. The common themes are art, love, loss and secrets. A LOT of secrets ... priest holes, the Radcliffe Blue, murder. The switching back and forth between characters was a bit clunky and I grew annoyed that Lily could never just be called Lily, rather always by her full name (those extra three syllables grated on me). The murder was never solved, but for some reason that didn't bother me as I was keen to find out where the story would go next. I give it a solid B. 

These is My Words by John Driver - this gets great reviews, but the narrator sounded like an auto bot so I returned it and have already started The Huntress.

Next up:

The Huntress by Kate Quinn
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Monthly Book Review: March 2019

The Forgotten Room by Beatriz Williams, Karen White, Lauren Willig - LOVED this! Three generations of women living/working in the same historic NYC home from the late 19th century through 1945 deal with ill-fated love. Each of the three authors tell one woman’s story so the characters are distinct, yet common threads weave perfectly together. I may not agree with all of their choices, but I can definitely picture a bit of myself in Olive, Lucy and Kate. 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - this book is all the rage and now I know why. My mother said it has “rich prose” and she was right. The story of Kya the marsh girl is beautiful and sad at the same time. Abandoned and ridiculed, Kya creates a full life out of small and simple things in the marsh on the fringe of a small North Carolinian town that most of us would take for granted. When the town’s golden boy is murdered, it seems the whole town is on trial. 

Next up:

These is My Words by John Driver

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton