October 2021 in Books

Can't believe that we are already into November!  October's reading list a little shorter.  It's been a busy month, and several of these books were slower reads that just kind of dragged.  Favorites this month were Yours Cheerfully, Two Old Men and a Baby, and Let Them Lead.  Here are the recaps:

Impostor Syndrome - Kathy Wang - fiction - three stars - This was just not a great book, probably closer to 2 1/2 stars rounded up.  It's about Julia, a Russian spy who is placed in a top tech company, somewhat facebook like, in the U.S>  After becoming established in her position as the #2 exec in the company, the Russians now want her to start stealing information/data for them.  The idea has a lot of promise, but honestly the book was boring, there were way too many things going on.  I've read lots of spy/thriller books and sometimes this is fine, there are all these threads that come together in the end and I like that.  The too many things going on was really just too much random character development that just didn't really translate to anything having to do with the plot itself.  Julie is particularly unlikeable and honestly so are the other characters.  Just a very meh book.

Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty - fiction - three stars - I love Moriarty, so was excited to read this one, but was disappointed.  It's about the Delany family.  The kids are all grown and out of the house, and the parents recently retired.  When the mother goes missing, the father is the prime suspect.  The first 50 pages of the book were good and had me pretty hooked, but then things just started to drag.  Moriarty always does a really good job with her characters, and in this book I thought they were still pretty well developed, but the storyline just failed.  I thought the resolution of the mystery was just not particularly believable and almost too pat.  Not my favorite.

The Big Finish - Brooke Fossey - fiction - four stars - I thought this was a cute book.  There seem to be a lot of 'old people' books written these days.  You know, crotchety old man/woman who doesn't have much family left and is old and grumpy meets younger person(s) who breathe new life into them creating a relationship that becomes important to both the old and the young person.  It's a common plot line these days, but one that I enjoy.  In this book Duffy and his best friend/roommate Carl are happily existing in a retirement community when Carl's grand daughter Josie (who he doesn't know about) suddenly appears on the scene.  The book explores the backstory about their relationship, but is also about how the retirement community comes together to help Josie out of the difficult situation she is in and grows tighter as a result.  I loved the characters and despite the fact that it's a familiar tale, it's an enjoyable one. 

Yours Cheerfully (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, #2) - A.J. Pearce - historical fiction - five stars - I really loved Dear Mrs. Bird, so I was thrilled that there was a sequel coming.  This book focuses on Emmy's work at Woman's Friend following the last book. She's still on probation, but starting to pick up new duties.  In particular, Woman's Friend has been tasked, along with the other women's magazines, to help recruit female workers for the war effort.  Emmy starts writing a series about women working at a munitions plant, and in the process makes many new friends.  In the meantime, she is continue to date Charles and their relationship is progressing.  Emmy is such a great character and you are just rooting for her.  I loved the new characters that were introduced too.  Love this one.

The Plum Trees - Victoria Shorr - historical fiction - four stars - I randomly pulled this one from the new shelf at the library.  It's about a woman, Consie, who finds an old family letter from 1945 which suggests that her uncle Hermann who was sent to Auschwitz may have escape.  This leads Consie to start researching her family history, looking for older family members who might have information.  I thought the story of Hermann and his daughters was really interesting, and very well written.  It really drew me in.  My criticism about the book is that that story was just fine on it's own.  You really didn't need the whole construct with Consie, in fact I thought it actually detracted from the story itself.  The only place where it perhaps made a difference was when she was researching escapes from Auschwitz, so you heard several different stories of how people were able to escape, but I'm guessing you could have worked some of those stories in either way.

Unleashed (Swindle, #7) - Gordon Korman - juvenile fiction - four stars - This one wasn't my favorite of the Swindle series, but I do love the characters and always enjoy the books.  In this book, Griffen and Darren Vader are competing against one another in an invention contest.  But then another member of the team also wants to enter an invention, and this splits the gang into two, girls vs. guys.  Meanwhile Luthor has has been having a violent reaction to the local exterminator's truck - he goes nuts whenever he drives by, and there's a new, weird, neighbor who refuses to let the team use his yard as a cut-through to school.  This was another where the plot was just a little too crazy, but the characters still amuse.

Two Old Men and a Baby: Or, How Hendrik and Evert Get Themselves into a Jam (Hendrik Groen, #3) - Hendrik Groen - fiction - five stars - I was a big fan of the first two Hendrik Groen books, so couldn't wait to start this one.  I will say I was a bit confused as I dived right in and missed the part about how this story occurred well before the other two books.  It took me a couple chapters before I went back and figured that out.  Still, it was fun to see a bit of Hendrik and Evert before they got into the nursing home and the Old But Not Dead Club.  The story made me laugh, and I loved the little plot twist, and how they got out of the mess they created.  A very fun read.

Harlem Shuffle - Colson Whitehead - historical fiction - three stars - This was a letdown for me.  I've really enjoyed Whiteheads previous books and this one fell short.  It's about Carney, whose legitimate furniture business sometimes dabbles in the illegitimate, he has been known to fence goods whose whereabouts are unclear, but he's trying to stay mostly on the up and up.  Trying to move the family to a nicer area.  Meanwhile, his cousin Freddie, who is continually in trouble, manages to draw him into the trouble time and again.  This was just OK.  I did not feel any particular affinity with Carney, and it really seemed to drag.  I also found some of the scenarios a bit of a stretch.  Just OK.

Linked - Gordon Korman - juvenile fiction - five stars - This is Korman's newest book, so of course I had to get it from the library for Carina.  She LOVED it.  She read it at least three times.  I really enjoyed it too.  It's a bit of a departure for Korman, it's much less silly and light that most of his books.  Link lives in a small town called Chokecherry.  The town is thrown into an uproar when someone paints a swastika on the wall at school.  The school and community, are shocked, but even more so when the swastikas continue to appear.  Link and his classmates decide they need to do something to counter this, and challenge themselves to create a paper link chain with six million links, representing each of the individuals who died in the holocaust.  Meanwhile a well known TikTok personality has latched onto the town and the chain bringing even more scrutiny.  I thought this was a great way to start a discussion about tolerance, peer pressure, telling the truth, the holocaust, etc.  All in a very approachable way.  Really good book.

The Stolen Lady - Laura Morelli - historical fiction - four stars - This book was OK.  It's probably more 3 1/2 stars rounded up.  It's one of those dual timeline books.  One timeline tells the story of Bellina, the nurse/servant of Lisa, a.k.a. Mona Lisa, describing her life a well as how the painting came to be.  The second timeline is from WWII, and the journey of the Mona Lisa and Louvre archivist Ann, as well as many of the other works from the Louvre, as the travel about France trying to avoid confiscation by the Nazis, bombing, and conditions that will cause the works to deteriorate.  This was a slower read for sure.  The Bellina story I thought was a little extraneous, there was a lot that was more about her vs. the painting which I found the more compelling part of her story.  I never knw that the family that commissioned the painting never actually received it or saw the finished work.  The WWII storyline moved a little more quickly.  I thought it was pretty fascinating how the were continually moving the artwork from different locations/depots and managed to keep them safe and in French hands.  

Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America’s Worst High School Hockey Team - John U. Bacon - nonfiction - five stars - I love hockey books, and this one sounded really interesting.  Depending on your point of view, it's a hockey story masquerading as a leadership book, or a leadership book with an inordinate amount of hockey in it.  In either case, I really enjoyed it a lot.  I kind of skimmed over the leadership parts, but those were kind of minimal.  I just loved the story of the team, how they turned it around by basically creating a new culture/ethic.  I love that the author/coach is still involved in the lives of the players and that he sprinkles in where they are now, how they are doing, etc.  Strongly recommend.

I'm currently reading A Most Clever Girl.  Next up are The Auschwitz Photographer and How Lucky.  Would love to hear what you guys have been reading!