End of Summer Reading Roundup

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

End of Summer Reading Roundup

It doesn’t seem possible that the end of summer is fast approaching. it goes by more quickly each year. This month's Book Report features books I recently enjoyed and I hope you will as well.

Many of us have heard about the Magdalene laundries in Ireland where young pregnant teens were sent by their families to give birth, and then forced to give their babies up for adoption. While there, the young girls worked long days in the laundry for no money, and were generally treated poorly as free labor.

In the United States, there were 38 of these facilities. In her novel Wayward Girls, Susan Wiggs sets her story in a fictionalized version of a real-life home for wayward girls in Buffalo in the 1960s. Young girls and teens who were pregnant or whose parents could not care for them or were orphaned or sent by the court system ended up at this home. 

When Marin rebuffs the advances of her alcoholic stepfather, he sends her to Good Shepherd Home, labeled a “reform school". There she bonds with a group of other young girls, and while they try to survive the hardships they faced, they plot a way to escape. It’s a heartbreaking and yet eventually uplifting story.

Kathy Wang’s novel The Satisfaction Cafe opens with Joan, a Chinese immigrant stating she never thought life in America would lead her to stab her husband. How can you not want to read on after that? 

Joan divorces the first husband (the one she stabbed) and ends up married to a much older wealthy American man, and lives what many would call the American dream, even if her husband’s adult children do not trust her. 

It’s a moving story of Joan’s life in America, finding a family, and the clever way she overcame the loneliness that many people face, especially in today’s world. She’s an unforgettable character.

Jess Walter’s new novel, So Far Gone tackles a different kind of loneliness. After he punches his conspiracy theory-spouting son-in-law at Thanksgiving, Rhys Kinnick goes off the grid to a dilapidated family cabin the middle of nowhere in the Northwest.

Seven years later a woman shows up on his doorstep with his two young grandchildren and a note from his daughter asking him to care for them until she returns. He tries to bond with the grandchildren over his love of literature, and when his son-in-law shows up with members of an armed militia to take the children, he is forced into action. 

Rhys rounds up his only friends to rescue his grandchildren and then find his missing daughter. It’s a road trip family story and has a lot to say about where we are as a country. I liked that the characters are not black-and-white (except for one really bad guy), but shades of gray. It’s got humor and heart.

Beck Dorey-Stein’s novel Spectacular Things tells the story of two sisters, Mia and Cricket, who are raised by their single mother. Mom was a high school soccer superstar and headed for big things in college when she became pregnant with Mia.

She gave her girls their love of soccer, and when Cricket shows amazing talent at the game and a tragedy befalls the family, it’s Mia who sacrifices everything to give Cricket a shot at making her Olympic dream come true.

Just as Cricket is on the verge of soccer stardom, it’s Mia who needs her little sister to help her. Cricket has to decide what is more important to her- her sister or her dream. It’s a wonderful story that would make a great book club pick as there is so much to discuss here.

The last book I really liked is an unusual one. Maria Reva’s Endling is about a Ukrainian scientist trying to keep a species of snail from going extinct. To fund this, she secretly works for an organization that matches Ukrainian women with Western men looking for brides.

Two sisters who also work for this organization have an ulterior motive- they plan to kidnap twelve of the men to protest the matchmaking company that they feel exploits these Ukrainian women.

The sisters recruit the scientist so they can use her research van, and when the Russians invade Ukraine, all the plans these women have go out the window, and now it’s just trying to avoid the war and keeping the men alive.

While it sounds crazy, the writing and the characters are impressive, and the tension ratchets up as they try to avoid becoming caught up in the war. It’s unique and brilliant and just nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize. 

Fall Into Some Great Reads

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

If summer is traditionally a time for lighter “beach reads”, fall is a time for more “serious” books. This year, there are a plethora of books that will satisfy our literary desires.

Jess Walter’s 2012 novel, Beautiful Ruins took the world by storm, ending up on many Best of the Year and Best of the Decade books. This year he returns with another stellar novel, The Cold Millions. 

Set in 1909 Spokane, Washington, it tells the story of Irish immigrant brothers, Gig and Rye. They spend most of their time looking for day jobs, and trying to scrape enough money together to rent a cold porch in a woman’s home. 

Tired of living hand-to-mouth, Gig becomes involved with a local workers’ union, and during a workers’ protest, he and Rye are arrested and thrown in jail with hundreds of other men. Sixteen year-old Rye is released and catches the eye of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a union organizer who travels from city to city giving speeches and raising money to bring attention to the cause of workers’ rights.

Flynn, who is an actual historical figure, is despised not only for what she says, but also because as a woman she dares to speak out at all. This makes her a target for many, but especially for the obscenely wealthy business owners who do not want their workers to organize. 

The Cold Millions takes historical events and people and mixes them with fictional characters to create a fascinating story that resonates with things that are occurring in society today. The brilliant writing pulls you in, and the characters live on long in your mind long after you finish this though-provoking book. I give it my highest recommendation.

V.E. Schwab is best known for her young adult fantasy novels, but her newest novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is geared towards adults. Addie LaRue is a young woman who, in 1714 France, runs away from an arranged marriage to a widower. 

In the woods, she meets the form of a man who promises her the life she wants- freedom to choose how to live, whom to love, what to be. The only catch is that in exchange for this life, she must give her soul over to him. Addie agrees, but only if she can give up her soul when she is done living her life.

This Faustian bargain allows Addie to make her own life choices with one caveat- no one will remember her. Once she is out of their sight, it is as if they never saw her before. This makes for a very lonely life for Addie. She can’t hold a job, or have a relationship; she is forever a stranger. 

The only one who knows her is the fallen god who gave her this life. He shows up from time to time, and Addie’s exchanges with him are intriguing and tension-filled. He seems particularly drawn to Addie. 

Three hundred years later, in 2014 New York City, Addie meets Henry in a used bookstore and he remembers her name. How is this possible? Henry and Addie begin to spend time together, and everything changes for Addie. Could this be the life she has always wanted?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue reminded me of one of my favorite books from the past few years- Lisa Grunwald’s Time After Time. Both books ask the question “What would you give up for the love of your life?” 

I loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It reminds us to be careful of what we wish for, it may not be what you wanted. A tantalizing adult fairy tale, I give it my highest recommendation. 

Cassidy Lucas’ mystery Santa Monica begins with handsome, hot trainer Zack being discovered dead in his gym by his secret half-sister Leticia. She is an undocumented worker from Mexico, living here with her young disabled son.

Leticia works many jobs, cleaning the homes of the wealthy women of Santa Monica, including Brooklyn transplant Mel, who moved when her husband’s movie script became a success. Zack is drawn to Mel, which angers Regina, who is running a financial scheme with him.

This terrific mystery is elevated by the writing, characters, and the tackling of the difficult life of an undocumented worker. It has explicit sex, and if you liked Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, pick up Santa Monica. I couldn’t put it down. 

The Cold Millions by Jess Walter- A+

Published by Harper 

Hardcover, $28.99, 352 pages

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab- A+

Published by TOR

Hardcover, $26.99, 444 pages

Santa Monica by Cassidy Lucas- A

Published by Harper Perennial

Trade paperback, $16.99, 348 pages

The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

The Cold Millions by Jess Walters

Published by Harper ISBN 9780062868084

Hardcover, $28.99, 352 pages

One of the books I always recommend is Jess Walters' novel Beautiful Ruins. Set in 1962, it tells the story of a young man working to keep his family inn open on the beautiful Italian coast of the Ligurian Sea. He dreams of Hollywood, and when an American movie star shows up in a boat, their lives become intertwined. It's one of the most perfectly constructed novels I have ever read.

His latest novel, The Cold Millions, drops the reader into 1909 Spokane, Washington where many lives converge. Gig and Ryan Dolan are young Irish immigrants who hop trains and try to find any kind of job they can. They come up against job agencies who take financial advantage of men like the Dolans, police who don't like these "bums" sleeping outside, and uber-wealthy businessmen, like mine owner Lemuel Brand, who uses his money to take every advantage he can to stay powerful.

Tired of being taken advantage of, Gig gets involved with union organizers and gets thrown in jail, along with 500 other men, after a big protest. Ryan turns to famed union speaker Elizabeth Gurley Flynn to help him get his brother out of jail. Flynn sees that she can use young Ryan to gain sympathy and money for the cause of protecting and promoting the union.

Ryan also turns to vaudeville performer Ursula, who is romantically involved with both Gig and Lemuel Brand. Brand is a man who uses everyone in his orbit, pitting people against each other, having loyalty to none. 

Once again, Walters' carefully constructs a fascinating world, again weaving real people into his fictional narrative (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were in Beautiful Ruins), like Flynn and labor lawyer Fred Moore. I loved the sibling relationship between Gig and Ryan, it felt so grounded in reality. The dichotomy of Ursula using her femininity to get what she wanted, while Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was  harangued because she "acted more like a man" works so well here.

One might think that reading about union organizing in 1909 has no resonance in 2020, but as I was reading, all I could think was wow, these things are still happening today. Wealthy men want to control society to benefit themselves only, women who don't act in a matter that is considered docile are ridiculed, people at the bottom of the economic rung are scorned, and eventually when people have had enough, they will protest against injustice.

The Cold Millions is a brilliant book to get lost in, that makes you think that maybe we will make it out of these troubled times as apparently they have always been with us in one form or another. I give Cold Millions my highest recommendation.

Friday 5ive- October 9, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post that features five things that caught my attention this week.

1) One of the big news stories this week (non-political edition) is that a T.Rex skeleton, named Stan, sold for nearly 32 million dollars at auction this week. Stan is a 40-foot long T.Rex dinosaur found in 1987 in North Dakota. It was a beautiful day for a walk, so I thought I'd go see Stan in person in the window at Christie's Auction House near Rockefeller Center. He's very impressive, but where would you put that in your house?

2) Today is the last day to register to vote in New York, so if you haven't already, time is ticking. This week I joined the bipartisan organization Moms Rising and mailed out ten postcards to moms in North Carolina reminding them to vote. It's the best way to make your voice heard. My friend Dorothy gave me the cool tote bag.

3)  Speaking of voting, the cast of HBO's brilliant VEEP got together on a Zoom call as a fundraiser for Wisconsin Democrats this week. I loved the show, although they couldn't have imagined that the insane stuff they dreamed up isn't crazier than the world right now. They talked about their favorite guests- Peter MacNichol and Hugh Laurie among them, along with my personal favorite, Dan Bakkendahl, whose portrayal of the foul-mouthed Congressman Roger Furlong was genius-level. They also shared insults hurled at Jonah that never made the show, and performed a few deleted scenes. It was great to see everyone back together again. More info on the fundraiser is here.  

4) If you want to escape from politics and like rom-com movies, Then Came You is now on demand and streaming. Kathie Lee Gifford plays Annabelle, a widow who decides to travel the world to see all the sights she and her husband never got to see. She starts in beautiful Scotland, staying at Awd's Inn, a castle/inn run by Howard, who is trying to save his family's ancestral home by turning it into an inn. Craig Ferguson is perfect as Howard- hilarious, cantankerous, and he falls in love with Annabelle, which doesn't bode well for his upcoming marriage to Claire, played by Elizabeth Hurley. You'll want to visit Scotland as seen through the lens of director Adriana Trigiani in this charming movie. My full review is here.

5)  I read two fantastic books this week. Jess Walter's The Cold Millions is set in 1909 Spokane, Washington and tells the story of two young Irish immigrants whose involvement with a workers' union protest gets them thrown in jail. It's a big story, and although it's set in 1909, there is a lot that resonates with events happening today. It's about class, unequal wealth, and family loyalty and it's just brilliant. I loved Walter's 2012 novel, Beautiful Ruins, and this one is just as good.

V.E. Schwab's novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a spin on Faust. Addie is a young French woman in 1714, who does not want to marry the widower her parents have chosen for her. She runs away and makes a deal with the devil in the form of Luc. She wants her freedom to live her life as she chooses, and when she is finished, he can have her soul. This dooms her to be forgotten by everyone she meets, which is a difficult life. Three hundred years later, she meets a man in a bookstore who knows her name. How is this possible? I loved, loved, loved this complicated, fascinating story. It reminded me of one of my favorites from 2018, Lisa Grunwald's Time After Time. A full review will follow soon.

Stay safe, socially distant, wash your hands, wear a mask, and make a plan to vote. 

Never Hug a Nun by Kevin Killeen

Never Hug a Nun by Kevin Killeen
Published by Blank Slate Press ISBN 978-0985007102 
Paperback, $14.95, 182 pages

Maybe it's because my mother-in-law gave my younger son a similar coat with lollipops taped on them to bring to preschool on his birthday that I can't resist this cover. And that grin; this may be one of the most perfect book covers ever.

Killeen wrote Never Hug a Nun, a comic novel set in a St. Louis suburb in 1966 in the voice of eight-year-old Patrick Cantwell. Patrick is in the second grade at Mary, Queen of Our Hearts School and has a ten-year-old brother John (who wants to be a Beatle and start a band) and younger brother Teddy (who likes sports and hates green beans).  Mom loves to listen to big band music while she irons and Dad works downtown, a goal for which all of the nuns encourage the boys to strive.

Patrick has a crush on golden haired Ebby, and he is consumed with trying to be near her. Patrick and John have a friend Kurt who is "a bad influence" on the Cantwell boys. Kurt has a secret fort near the railroad tracks and he has ideas about stealing money to buy a drum set so they can start a band, like the Beatles. As a mother of two grown sons, I can tell you that Kurt is the boy we all pray our kids will not hang around.

This novel brought back many memories for me; the scene where Patrick's mom glues Green Stamps into books immediately put me back in my childhood kitchen where my mom would do the same thing, hoping to have enough to get a toaster or a lamp. I could almost smell the Green Stamp glue as I read.

I too went to Catholic school, and know well many of the nuns and monsignors from Patrick's school. I smiled at the scene where the nun washed the blackboard with the sponge; it was an honor to be asked to wash the blackboard at my school. And the constant reminders by the monsignor to get out there and sell those raffle tickets for the car? Yep, been there many times.

I like the well-drawn adult characters in this novel. Grandpa loves his grandkids and takes them to a Beatles concert, even though he knows nothing about the Beatles. Oh yeah, and he accidentally gets a little stoned and arrested, but whose Grandpa hasn't done that?

Aunt Jenny is studying to be a nun, with some reservations. She has a sweet relationship with Patrick and I was glad to see that she returns for a few scenes at the end of the book. I think she warrants her own story, and would like to see her in her own book.

Mom and Dad are interesting too. Dad hates dragging himself "downtown" everyday to work, but he loves his family and that is what a good dad does. I love that he tells his sons that they can tell him anything, and he proves that later in the story. Mom adores her husband and sons, but would like to add a daughter to their family. She desires to be a good Catholic family.

As the only female in our family, I find books written from the male point of view fascinating. I always learn something. But I did not need to learn what goes on in the boys' bathroom at school; that scene just had me shaking my head- what is up with boys? And many is the time I wanted to say to Patrick- NO! Stop and think for a second, son.

Patrick will probably grow up to be a protagonist in a Jonathan Tropper or Jess Walter book; fans of This Is Where I Leave You and The Financial Lives of Poets are the perfect audience for this book. Kileen bills Never Hug a Nun as a comic novel, but it has a lot of heart too.

rating 3.5 of 5

Thanks to TLC Tours for providing me an opportunity to be on this Tour. For more reviews, click here.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter- A Perfect Novel

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters
Published by Harper ISBN 978-0-06-192812-3
Hardcover $25.99
Source: Amazon Vine program

Two years ago I read and loved Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of Poets, about a married man who leaves his job as financial writer to start a website just as the economic crisis hits. He doesn't know how he can support his family, keep his children in Catholic school, and take care of his father who has dementia and has moved in with them.

I was so excited to see that he had a new book out, Beautiful Ruins, which is as beautiful on the inside as the cover art is on the outside. This time, Walters takes us from 1962 in a small town on the coast of Italy, where a young Pasquale has lost his father and now runs the small family hotel that has few guests.

A beautiful, fragile American actress, Dee Moray ends up at his hotel and Pasquale feels protective of her and her situation. She confides in him that she is very sick, and Pasquale goes to Rome to confront the production assistant of the movie she is working on, which is the infamous Cleopatra, starring Richard Burton and Liz Taylor.

Richard Burton has always been a larger-than-life figure, and Walters conjures him in all his glory. Pasquale's adventure and relationship with the drunken, egomanical Burton is fascinating.

Fast forward to today, and the production assistant, Michael Deane, is now a has-been movie producer who has a successful reality television show. His assistant, Claire, is at a crossroads professionally and personally, and ready to leave her job unless she finds a movie worthy of her efforts.

Walters toggles back and forth between time frames and his stories and manages to keep both story lines interesting to the reader as we wait to see how these characters will ultimately intersect. When he finally brings both story lines together, it is brilliantly done.

Every character, and there are many, are fully fleshed out and distinct, and unlike some novels, the reader is able to keep them all straight in her mind. I find that to be the work of an accomplished writer.

Interspersed in the book are a chapter of a book written by an American writer who stayed every year at Pasquale's hotel, a synopsis of a movie written by a young man about a survivor of the infamous Donner party, and a chapter from Michael Dean's memoir. All were fascinating.

I was in awe of how Walters brought everything together in the end. The last chapter, titled Beautiful Ruins, brings the reader up-to-date on the characters in the novel, such a satisfying conclusion. Deane says that "This is a love story, but really what isn't?"

Beautiful Ruins may just be as close to perfection as I have ever read. It's like a beautiful package that you keep unwrapping, only to find more pretty wrapping, until you get to the last box and realize that the perfect gift is inside. The writing, the characters, the way it is crafted- it's the total package. This is a book I can imagine many writers will read and be envious that they didn't write it.

rating 5 of 5

The Financial Lives of The Poets is emotional, poignant

The Financial Lives of The Poets by Jess Walter
Published by Harper Perennial
Paperback $14.99

I have to admit, a novel titled The Financial Lives of The Poets is not something I would normally rush to read. Why would I care about finance and poets? But since people I respect raved about this book, I gave it a try.

I'm so glad I did! Jess Walter has written a dazzling story of a young suburban family in the throws of the national economic crisis that threatens not only their financial stability but their very existence as a family unit.

Matt left his job as a business writer at a newspaper to follow his dream- a website devoted to financial news, with advice columns written in poetry. Even in the best of times, this sounds like a risky venture. Matt and his wife Lisa take another mortgage on their house to invest in the company, and then the housing market crashes.

Matt goes back to his job at the newspaper, only to be laid off when newspapers begin to lose advertisers and readers. Lisa works at a boring job she hates for little money and expresses her dissatisfaction by buying collectibles that she hopes to resell on Ebay. Now their garage is filled with boxes of junk she is unable to unload.

Their house will soon be in foreclosure, and their children will be forced to leave their lovely Catholic school and go to the dangerous neighborhood public school. Matt's father, who suffers from dementia, has moved in with them after he met a stripper who stole all of his money, and Lisa is contemplating an affair with her old boyfriend. What's a man to do?

After Matt meets up with some young potheads at the 7-11 one night, he becomes enmeshed in their lives. He hangs out with them hoping to forget his troubles. Eventually, as sometimes happens when under the influence of pot, a plan is created that Matt hopes will solve his money problems.

The author writes well for his characters. The disintegrating marriage of Matt and Lisa is sad to watch.

"We're in a perpetual stalemate here; lost. I can see how we got here- after each bad decision, after each failure we quietly logged our blame, our petty resentments; we constructed a case against each other that we never prosecuted. As long as both cases remained unstated, the charges sealed, we had a tacit peace; you don't mention this and I won't mention that, this and that growing and changing and becoming everything, until the only connection between us was this bridge of quiet guilt and recrimination."

While Lisa and Matt fall apart, Matt's relationship with his dad is so touching. Anyone who has someone in their own family with dementia will relate to Matt and his dad, the loving patience Matt shows his father, the loss of a once-proud man's self-reliance.

Fans of Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You should run to get this book. As a woman, I find this glimpse into the male psyche fascinating.  (The cover is even reminiscent of TV's Mad Men opening credits with the falling man.) Matt's poetry is cleverly sprinkled throughout the book, adding an extra dimension for the reader. Walter's look at the economic crisis through the prism of this one family is an emotional, poignant ride.

Rating 4.5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Erica at Harper Perennial for providing a copy of this book for review