September 2023 in Books

Overall a very good month of reading.  I might have found my favorite book of the year.  Check of the recaps below:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride - historical fiction - five stars - This book was a great way to start the month.  It's about a community in Pottstown, PA called Chicken Hill.  Back in the day this was a Jewish/Black neighborhood, but over time many of the Jews have moved to nicer areas of town.  Moshe and Chona have stayed though, mostly because Chona won't leave.  She grew up in the neighborhood and inherited her father's grocery store.  The store doesn't turn a profit, but thankfully she and Moshe are doing well as Moshe owns a theater and other enterprises.  Chona has forged deep relationships within the black community and in many ways helps to hold it together and keep some of it's poorest residents afloat.  The book talks about Chona and Moshe's history, the history of the neighborhood, and shows the ties that bind the together.  A fantastic read.

The Jungle - Upton Sinclair - fiction - four stars - This was a my 'classic' choice for the month.  I'll admit that I almost quit after the first chapter which was a long drawn out description of a immigrant wedding with a ton of names thrown about, that made me wonder if I really wanted to go down this path.  Thankfully, that chapter was kind of an outlier, and the book quickly got into the story of a family of immigrants that comes to Chicago from Lithuania around the turn of the century.  While the book became famous as an expose of the meatpacking industry, it's at heart the story of the immigrant struggle.  A struggle for wages, food, shelter, and stability.  In many ways the industry saw immigrants as simply another commodity.  I found the descriptions of the meatpacking process fascinating, and the story of the family compelling.  Towards the end the book got much more philosophical/political as Jurgis, the main character, becomes involved in politics as well as a general examination of life and meaning.  Those parts I could have done without, but given that the book was written in 1905, I thought the story and writing held up pretty well.

The Bird Tattoo - Dunya Mikhail - fiction - four stars - This was one I picked off the new book self at the library as it looked interesting.  It's the story of Helen, a Yazidi woman whose family is torn apart by religious persecution.  Helen is taken captive when going to search for her husband Elias, a journalist, who does not return home one evening.  In captivity, she becomes a disposable wife for religious fighters, bought and returned when a new husband dies or loses interest.  Her sons are 'converted' and taken to become fighters, and she's unaware of the whereabouts of her newborn daughter who was left in a neighbor's care.  The book bounces between Helen's past and present.  Eventually she is able to escape, and help others escape as well.  I thought the story was compelling, although in some ways I think the author tried to weave in too many stories/narratives, and I thought it was overly focused on her previous life...the contrast with her current circumstances seemed disjointed.  Still worth reading.

The Librarianist - Patrick deWitt - fiction - four stars - Bob, a retired librarian encounters a lost woman on his daily walk.  She 'belongs' to an elderly care facility, and when he returns her, he feels a draw to the place and the residents there.  As he learns more about the residents and their lives, he reflects on his own, and we learn about his story as well.  I enjoyed this one, it wasn't really a rock your socks off book, but it was just a nice read. I liked how things came full circle, and Bob's willingness/interest in helping the folks at the home ended up bringing closure for Bob's greatest tragedy.

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien - historical fiction - four stars - This is one of the books Ellie will be reading this quarter in English.  Since I have never read it, I thought I would read along.  It's a written like a memoir, although O'Bren says it's a work of fiction.  Except that he did serve in Vietnam, and he is in the book, so it's kind of a cross between memoir and fiction.  Honestly, that's probably what I liked least about the book, not being able to tell what was real and wasn't.  I know that's not the point of the book, it's kind of a reflection on war, but not knowing what was real bothered me.  Still, I did enjoy it.  I thought it was a very honest look at his experiences and how those things stay with you.  Well worth the read.

Crook Manifesto (Ray Carney, #2) - Colson Whitehead - historical fiction - three stars - I've determined that I am either really love Whitehead's books, or I don't.  This one was hard to get through, probably more like two and a half stars rounded up.  I maybe should have skipped it because it's the sequel to Harlem Shuffle and I didn't really like that one either, but apparently I'm a glutton for punishment.  The story is told in three parts, the first and third focus more on Ray Carney, the furniture store owner and former fence, and the middle section is focused on Pepper who has helped Ray with his less legal exploits in the past.  The first section is how Ray gets back into the business after being clean for so long because he asks a dirty cop for help getting Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter.  The second section is about Pepper and a side gig providing protection for a movie shoot in Harlem (this was my least favorite).  The last part was about Ray bringing down Alexander Oakes, his wife's former friend who is a dirty politician trying to get elected to higher office.  The last part was the most interesting and I actually did not mind this part of the story.  I just didn't really like the characters and that always kills it for me.  Don't recommend.

Mrs. Porter Calling (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, #3) - AJ Pearce - historical fiction - five stars - I have absolutely loved all of the books in this series and this one is just as good.  Woman's Friend magazine has just changed hands - the owner has passed away and left the magazine to his niece Cresside Porter.  Cresside has delusions of grandeur and is trying to change the magazine from what it is into a glossy, fashion magazine.  Emmy and her friends must try and save the magazine.  In the meantime, Emmy and Bunty have invited Emmy's friend Thelma and her kids to move in with them.  I love the characters that Pearce creates and that she doesn't shy away from the difficult and the sad.  I hope there will be many more books in this series!

The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf (Detective Varg, #4) - Alexander McCall Smith - detective - five stars - I really loved the first book in this series.  The second  and third books were still solid, but not as good as the first.  This one ranked along with the first.  Varg is investigating his strangest case yet, the disappearance of a house.  In addition, he is dealing with relationship issues with his girlfriend Juni, and also the need to downsize his apartment.  I love Varg's character, his solid steadfastness and just the good person that he is.  As he deals with all of these knotty issues, I just loved how that character showed through.  Thoroughly enjoyable.

The River We Remember - William Kent Krueger - historical fiction - five stars - This might turn out to be my favorite book of the year.  I'm a huge fan of Krueger.  His book Ordinary Grace is in my all time top ten.  This book is in that vein.  When Jimmy Quinn, a universally hated man in the community, is found dead in a river in Jewel, Minnesota in 1958, people immediately start pointing fingers at native American WWII vet Noah Bluestone and his Japanese wife Kyoko.  Sheriff Brody Dern has to navigate the tense landscape to try and figure out what happened.  Krueger does an amazing job with character development.  I loved meeting and getting to know the inhabitants of the town, and seeing how Kreuger pulled all the threads together.  The story was definitely not predictable and have several twists and turns.  So well done, a must read.

Obviously The River We Remember was my favorite this month, and least favorite was Crook Manifesto.  I'm currently three quarters of the way through The Whalebone Theater and really loving it.  As always, I would love to know what you guys have been reading!