I'm a little late getting this post up...it's been a bit crazy around here, but better late than never right? It was a bit of a mixed bag this month. Some good, some not so good.
First Lie Wins - Ashley Elston - mystery - four stars - This was a good solid read. Evie Porter isn't who she seems to be. She works for the mysterious Mr. Smith who sends her on missions where she assumes an identity and then follows the instructions she periodically receives, retrieving items or information for Mr. Smith. In her new assignment, her mark is Ryan Sumner. The problem is, she really likes him, and her assignment starts to get complicated. This was fast paced and overall good, although there were some things that didn't hang together particularly well with me. Still I liked a couple of the twists and enjoyed the read.
The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County - Claire Swinarski - fiction - five stars - This was a nice palatte cleanser and another quick read. The story is focused on Esther Larsen and her granddaughter Iris. Esther is one of several funeral ladies at church who put on a huge spread for mourners whenever there is a funeral. When a famous television chef comes to town for his wife's funeral, bringing his son and daughter (Cooper and Cricket), they need a place to stay as their hotel reservation has fallen through. Esther convinces her granddaughter Iris to let them use the rental property she is just putting the finishing touches on. Romance brews between Iris and Cooper. There are relationship complications and then a family crisis for Esther when it's discovered that she lost a bunch of money to an internet scammer and might lose her home. While there is a fair amount of predictability in the book, overall I just really enjoyed the characters and it was a great way to spend a cross country flight.
Table for Two - Amor Towles - short story fiction - four stars - I am a huge fan of Towles. I have enjoyed all of his books, I love his character development and how his stories unfold. His books are long and they really draw you in. That said, this was a mixed bag for me. It's a collection of short stories by Towles, and the first half of the book fell a little flat for me. I think Towles just needs longer to develop the stories and characters, they were not particularly compelling and left me wanting. The last 'story' takes up almost half of the book and is really closer to a novelette in length. It continues the story of one of the characters from his book Rules of Civility, Evelyn. This was the story I enjoyed the most, and honestly it's probably because her character was already so well developed and it was basically a book in its own right. Maybe you're not a short story person, but that 'short' story is definitely worth reading.
All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth - Joel H. Morris - fiction - three stars - This one was a miss for me. I had very high hopes for it. It started off strong. I really enjoyed reading the backstory of Lady Macbeth, her growing up and how she came to marry Macbeth, but the latter part of the story produced a character unrecognizable from before. The change was too abrupt and jarring for me. A four star start and a two star end.
Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune - Anderson Cooper - non-fiction - three stars - This books was somewhat frustrating to me. I think the Astor story is very interesting, and we were plugging along, but then Cooper introduces a couple of chapters that don't really fit. They are focused on themes/subjects that aren't focused on the history of the family but are just Astor adjacent. They really broke the focus of the book for me. I feel like there was plenty of subject matter with the family itself and those chapters as well as the somewhat unrelated/random epilogue lost me.
Your Presence Is Mandatory - Sasha Vasilyuk - historical fiction - three stars - Yefim is a Ukranian/Soviet who serves in WWII against Germany, but pretty early on is captured and sent to a prison camp and later becomes a forced farm laborer in Germany. Because those captured were considered traitors and often sent to Siberia after the war, Yefim kept this a secret from friends and family after the war. The story moves back and forth between Yefim's time during the war and after the war as he builds/grows his family. The war part of the story is very compelling and kept my focus, the post-war part was much weaker.
Daughters of Shandong - Eve J. Chung - historical fiction - five stars - My favorite this month. It's the story of Hai and her family. When the tide of the Chinese civil war turns and the Communists are taking over, Hai's grandparents and father flee the county. Hai, her mother and sisters are left to defend the family's home/land in Shandong. Because of the goodwill her mother sowed as sympathetic to their workers, they are saved, and they begin a long flight to reunite with their family in Taiwan. It's a pretty difficult journey with many stops and starts and many many difficulties. This is loosely based on the author's family's history. Great read.
Favorite this month was Daughters of Shandong. Least favorite was All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth. I just started reading The Last House which I'm just starting to get into. I also just picked up a stack of hold books from the library, so I'll be busy this month! Please share what you are reading.
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