Everything I Never Told You
At the end of the school year, one of my (favorite) students asked me why we didn't read more books or articles by women of color. I blinked and said, "Good question." So together we selected some books from a list of recommendations a friend found, and this was one of them. I hope I see this student again (she may be moving) so we can talk about it. It's kind of dark, which is right up her alley and also her chosen hair color. A blended Asian American-Caucasian family loses their teenage daughter to drowning, and, true to the title, eventually spills everything they've been keeping from each other. The secrets are varied and decades old, some small and some shocking. It's how they forgive each other that made the book readable for someone who doesn't love darkness.
Historical Fiction by Alison Weir
Researched to a the finest detail (most of the dialogue is quotes from primary sources) but eloquently rendered, this book is true historical fiction (which is kind of a loose term most of the time). The book encompasses Elizabeth's entire adulthood, with hints of her childhood, but focuses mainly on Elizabeth's continual ploys to stay single and rule on her own. I love English history and literature, but I think I may have read too many books about the Tudors, because I was hoping for some revelations or new theories, but if you've read or seen much about Elizabeth, there's nothing new. I was a little bored. In fact, I made myself finish it the day before leaving for the lake so I didn't have to read it there (or lug it along--it's heavy).
Orhan's Inheritance
I chose this one at random from the library shelf, and to be honest I thought it was called "Orphan's Inheritance." Adoption and finding one's roots is a theme of the novel I'm writing, so I was intrigued. Those themes are in this book, but in a subtle way. It's actually a beautiful but disturbing book about the genocide of Armenian Christians in Turkey during World War I, including a quest by one man to find out more about his grandfather's life during that time. It was not what I expected and sometimes that's the best kind of book. I also gleaned a few ideas for my own writing. One thing I'm thinking about now is the balance between sorrow and joy in a novel. Sorrow makes the story and joy completes it, but how much to have of each, and where?
Chick Lit by Laura Dave
See what I mean about playing it loose with genres? Technically this is a novel or women's fiction, but to me, this was the epitome of a vacation read. It was fun, it was fast, it was easy. I could so easily picture the kind of flat characters, and predict the plot, that it seemed like a movie more than a book. The main character (I can't even remember her name) finds out a secret about her fiance, her parents, and their family vineyard all in the same day. Whirlwind week before wedding ensues. I expect to see it in the theaters soon (although I'll only rent it when my sister comes over for a girls night).
The Grace Keepers
The jacket of this mentions Scottish folk tales, and I was in a hurry with two boys tugging on my legs as I chose it at the library, so I was surprised to enter Water World. Remember that weird Kevin Costner movie? Seriously, this is a more thoughtful version of that. Two women's lives both fall apart and collide, and there's also a floating circus. The way that sentence is composed is how this book feels, oddly tangential. During and after reading, I always felt like I was on a boat, literally rocking with the waves, even when I wasn't floating on the lake. All around, a weird experience.
Mystery by Helaine Mario
I finished The Grace Keepers just after arriving home from vacation and was eager to start a new story. Reading is my escape and nothing requires escape quite like a the post-vacation aftermath of laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. Fail. I do not do mysteries. There is something off putting to me about the description of a sinister man sitting in a cafe, watching a woman come and go across the street. Maybe this could have improved--there was almost a Dan Brown quality to it--but I didn't stick around to find out. Life is too short to read bad books.
The Girl You Left Behind
If this was a contest, this book would win. I may have go get everything Jojo Moyes has ever written now. In fact, I thought this was one of her books written prior to Me Before You, but it's brand new, so that means I have some other good reading ahead. This one is starkly different, too. There's a parallel story of a woman during WWI whose husband is a painter, and the woman in current day who owns the painting, connected by a bitter struggle over who should own the painting. Moyes writing is deceptively simple and I think that's what makes it great. I gobbled this one up and I hope to one day write like her. That is all.
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