28. Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See (2014)

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr

Synopsis

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. 

 In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Review

Wow! This book was a stunningly gorgeous read and an up-all-night-page-turner.  I highly highly recommend this book.  The characters and scenes are brilliantly rendered - I felt like the characters were old friends and the settings of the book were my childhood homes.  I could so vividly see each and every character and each and every scene.  This book was such a delight to read.  The short (often very very short) chapters made for an addicting read as I continually found myself saying "just one more chapter" and would end up reading another 100 pages.  This is one of those books that I waited all day to finally sit down and read and now that it's over I'm a little sad, but I will never forget it.  

While the book takes place during World War II I wouldn't categorize it as just another WWII book (while I do love reading that genre, if it even is a genre, it can get old after a while) in that the characters are so richly portrayed that the war takes a back seat to the story. Definitely read this book!

Other books you may like…

Suite Française

The Book Thief

27. Book Review: One Plus One (2014)

One Plus One: A Novel by Jojo Moyes

Synopsis

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever. 

 One Plus One is Jojo Moyes at her astounding best. You’ll laugh, you’ll weep, and when you flip the last page, you’ll want to start all over again.

Review

I just love Jojo Moyes… I can't deny it. And while the reading is light and border-line "chic-lit" I don't care. I love her books.  Not everything you/I read has to be super literary. This book was no exception, I absolutely devoured it in 26 hours flat.  Two sessions reading at the pool and one super late night session. I couldn't resist! 

This is yet another touching and against all odds love story with absolutely endearing characters. This is one book you absolutely have to pick up for this summer… or any of her other books if you haven't already.

Other books you may like…

Me Before You: A Novel

The Last Letter from Your Lover

The Girl You Left Behind

26. Book Review: Year of Wonders (2014)

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

Synopsis

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders." 

 Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

Review

This was a recent book club pick for my personal book club.  I liked the book to start and had no time getting into it but I couldn't finish it before we met so I had the ending spoiled for me. And since a lot of people in my book club didn't like the ending, it was hard to finish it on my own then and actually LIKE the ending.  But that was my own fault for not finishing on time.  

The premise of this book is a fascinating one, especially since I didn't know much about the plague in England before reading this book.  The book also took place at the cross section of religious upheaval, witch craft and the start of modern medicine - which gave much food for thought. The characters were brilliantly portrayed and this was a quick read in my opinion but it is true that the ending was a little strange. It didn't seem to fit the flow or the characters of the rest of the book.  

Other book you may like…

The Signature of All Things: A Novel

25. Book Review: The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014)

The Museum of Extraordinary Things: A Novel by Alice Hoffman

Synopsis

Mesmerizing and illuminating, Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the story of an electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century. 

 Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River. 

 The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor’s apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie. 

 With its colorful crowds of bootleggers, heiresses, thugs, and idealists, New York itself becomes a riveting character as Hoffman weaves her trademark magic, romance, and masterful storytelling to unite Coralie and Eddie in a sizzling, tender, and moving story of young love in tumultuous times. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is Alice Hoffman at her most spellbinding.

Review

This is the half way point! 25 more books to go!

The synopsis of this book totally hooked me… and I was really excited to dig into this book.  Right away the book drew me in but by about mid-way through this book totally fell flat for me. The tough thing about challenging yourself to read 50 books in a year and then reviewing them is that sometimes the book isn't as good as you wanted it to be and then you have to write about it. It's so hard for me to say even remotely negative things about a book.  I will say that the characters were great, I just loved Eddie, Coralie and Maureen… but the story line felt so terribly slow at some parts and break neck fast at others.  I am glad I read this book as it really was a fascinating story but I wish the story line flowed a little better. I can't ever give a book a "bad" review but I will say that if you read this, prepare yourself for a few slow spots and then hold on tight when the story finally "starts" about 50 pages until the end.

Other books you may like…

The Night Circus

The Swan Gondola: A Novel

24. Book Review: Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (2014)

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls: A Novel by Anton DiSclafani

Synopsis

It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a far remove from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country. 

 Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.

Review

This book is a coming of age/sexual awakening story and while I don't want to give this book a bad review I think parts of it were just done in poor taste.  Without giving away the story or plot line I won't go further, but maybe when you read it you will think the same thing.  

The writing was in my mind exceptional. It was very visual and I love the present to past changes it made up until the height of the plot line.  Most readers will guess where the story line is going, but I still think there were some good twists along the way. I could totally picture each scene from this book and the characters were all described in amazing detailed.  So the final verdict was that I loved and hated this book all at the same time. I loved the writing but I think the story line could have been just as provocative with a little more decency given to the subject matter.  

Other books you may like…

The Interestings: A Novel

The Starboard Sea: A Novel

Seating Arrangements

23. Book Review: Under the Wide and Starry Sky (2014)

Under the Wide and Starry Sky: A Novel by Nancy Horan

Synopsis

From Nancy Horan, New York Times bestselling author of Loving Frank, comes her much-anticipated second novel, which tells the improbable love story of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny. 

 At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.” 

 Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales.

Review

These days I am almost scared to read authors' 'much anticipated second novels' as a lot of them have fallen flat for me lately.  It's hard to know exactly how to review this book, to be honest.

I absolutely LOVED this author's first book Loving Frank and so I was excited to be taken on another one of Horan's literary adventures into the story and history of a bright man.

This book was long and pro-longed at times, going on and on about his sickness, his inability to have the life he wanted and the struggles of his wife.  I feel like this book could have been half as long with an extra dose of drama added in.  Even when Robert Louis Stevenson was well and successful the book glossed over those parts and tended to focus on his sickness and 'starving artist' life.  

With all that being said I will say that there was a slow meandering and depth to this book that made it very likable.  The reader is on an adventure to be sure… just one that moves quite slow at times.  Portions of the end of the book I just skipped because it felt so repetitive.  But this book left a lasting legacy in my mind at least.  Days after finishing this book I find myself wondering what Fanny and Louis are up to or replaying scenes in my head over and over.  For that I think the book is a success.  If you were/are a fan of RLS this book would likely be even more of a success.  So this book gets a mixed review from me.

Other books you may like…

Loving Frank: A Novel

Hemingway's Girl

The Paris Wife: A Novel

22. Book Review: The Girl You Left Behind (2014)

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

Synopsis

France, 1916: Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard’s portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer’s dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything—her family, her reputation, and her life—to see her husband again. 

 Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv Halston by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. A chance encounter reveals the painting’s true worth, and a battle begins for who its legitimate owner is—putting Liv’s belief in what is right to the ultimate test. 

 Review

I just love Jojo Moyes. I love the way she tells a tale and the heart with which she tells it.  Each book she writes is so enjoyable and heart wrenching to read.  I loved reading this book on the heels of The Goldfinch as it's story was a bit lighter (although at some points this story was quite heavy) but mostly because it followed the theme of art and what it means to those who behold it. And I have said this before and I'll say it again, she writes a darn good love story.  This book is a great beach read or summer vacation read. It goes quickly but deeply.

Other books you may like…

Suite Francaise

The Secret Keeper: A Novel

21. Book Review: The Goldfinch (2014)

The Goldfinch: A Novel by Donna Tartt

Synopsis

Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. 

 As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love--and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. 

 The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

Review

After hearing so many polarizing opinions (I LOVED IT! I HATED IT!) reviews about this book I was pretty sure I was going to avoid it.  I was afraid it was overhyped and I usually like to know in advance of reading a book if I am going to remotely like it… and since it was polarizing I didn't think I would take the chance or I would at least just wait for a copy to show up at the library randomly (fate! then it's meant to be, right?!).  

Then it became the next book club selection for my book club and I realized I was actually glad it was "assigned" reading.  Now I could find out what all the hype was about with out buying into the hype (or something… that was my reasoning).  Let me say that this book really did live up the hype. It was moving and sad and thought-provoking and redeeming and full to the brim with humanity.  It was quite a long book but I read it less than a week… just pouring over the pages and absorbing them and not even realizing what was going on around me.  And for all it's depth and sadness and tragic story lines… it absolutely redeemed itself at the end.  And even if it hadn't of (which it absolutely did - the last chapter is so beautiful and meant to be read and re-read) it still would have been an amazing literary experience.  I am now quite curious as to what this authors other books are like.  This is a great book club selection with so many juicy parts to dissect and discuss among friends.

Other books you may like…

The Interestings: A Novel
Tell the Wolves I'm Home: A Novel

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  

(for some reason The Goldfinch reminded me so much of Dragon Tattoo… plus, Goldfinch even references Dragon Tattoo… funny, huh?!)

20. Book Review: What Alice Forgot (2014)

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Synopsis

Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. 

 So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over… 

 Review

I absolutely LOVED the premise and the story line of this book. But with one caveat, this book seemed to take me FOREVER to read.  The story line moved dreadfully slow at some points and Elizabeth & Frannie's story lines seem to detract at times from Alice's - or I just found myself only wanting to read about Alice.  But that is the only bad thing I am going to say about this book.  Because really it was so well written and so visual - I could totally picture the whole thing.  The meringue pie making scene was so hilarious and one I think I will always remember.

What I loved most about this book was the way it made me look at my own life (and isn't that what we love so much about books?) as if it were through Alice's point of view.  What decisions do we make in life that take us to where we are now versus ten years ago or ten years in the future?  Are we building the life we always imagined or are we off course?  This book was a thinker for sure. And for a reader that is usually hypercritical of book endings, I really liked the way this book ended.  To make the book even more interesting I just heard about a real-life example of memory loss like this that mirrored the book quite closely on The American Life's recent episode.  Check that out - it's in Act 2 and is definitely worth a listen!

Other books you may like…

The Husband's Secret by the same author (review found here)

The Light Between Oceans: A Novel

19. Book Review: A Well Tempered Heart (2014)

A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Synopsis

The sequel to the international best-selling novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. 

 Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads; her boyfriend has recently left her and she is, despite her wealth, unhappy with her professional life. Julia is lost and exhausted. 

 One day, in the middle of an important business meeting, she hears a stranger’s voice in her head that causes her to leave the office without explanation. In the following days, her crisis only deepens. Not only does the female voice refuse to disappear, but it starts to ask questions Julia has been trying to avoid. Why do you live alone? To whom do you feel close? What do you want in life? Interwoven with Julia’s story is that of a Burmese woman named Nu Nu who finds her world turned upside down when Burma goes to war and calls on her two young sons to be child soldiers. This spirited sequel, like The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, explores the most inspiring and passionate terrain: the human heart.

Review

I absolutely adored Sendker's novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and I was so excited to pick up this sequel to that epic and moving story.  Sedker's gift as an author was still vibrantly apparent in this follow up novel but the storyline left a little to be desired - mostly with the ending.  The story did move quickly with inspiring and lovable characters that had a lot of depth. While I loved the visuals this book presented, it seemed like the author had a great idea for the story, which was beautiful, but felt compelled to frame it within the first novel's storyline.  This made the book feel fragmented and unfinished at times. The author no doubt left off with the expectations of a forthcoming third book in this (presumable) series.  I don't want to get to "down" on this book though because really it was a quick and beautiful read from an extremely gifted author.  It's worth checking out.

Other books you may like…

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (by the same author)
The Lowland