January 2025 in Books

Decent month of reading, although nothing that was amazing and a couple of duds.  Here are the recaps:

James - Percival Everett - fiction - four stars - This is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim. I thought this was a pretty clever retelling. You are rooting for both Huck and Jim, and I enjoyed the relationship/friendship between them. 

Libby Lost and Found - Stephanie Booth - fiction - four stars - Libby is a famous author whose next book, the final book in a best-selling fantasy series is long overdue.  Luckily for Libby, the books are published under a pseudonym, so when the fans start to lose it because the book hasn't come out yet, she isn't harassed. The bad news is that Libby has been diagnosed with early onset dementia and she can't figure out how to rescue the characters from their current predicament. In an act of desperation, Libby flies across the country to meet a superfan who she thinks will help her finish the book. I really enjoyed the characters and how this story unfolded.  

The Magnificent Ruins - Nayantara Roy - fiction - four stars - Lila De's grandfather dies and leaves her the family home in India. The home is THE family home, where her mother, grandmother, and all her aunts and uncles reside. On the one hand her family is thrilled that she has returned to India after years away, on the other hand, they don't understand why the home was left to her and are preparing to challenge the will. A messy story about a messy family, with all sorts of contradictions and subplots going on, but it all came together in the end.

The God of the Woods - Liz Moore - fiction - four stars - Barbara Van Laar has disappear from sleepaway camp. Years earlier her brother disappeared as well. As the search for Barabara goes on, we learn about the messy Van Laar family.  A fast paced book with several twists in this book that I did not expect. Not a five because I thought the ending was weak, but still a very good read.

One Life: The True Story of Sir Nicholas Winton and the Prague Kindertransport - Barbara Winton - biography - three stars - The story of Nicholas Winton, who spent a couple of weeks in country and then several months after returning home to Britain helping to evacuate Jewish children from Prague. He became famous when 'outed' on an episode of the British Television show That's Life! where he met many of the children he saved. The book is written by his daughter, and while it does discuss in detail his Kindertransport efforts, it tells about his whole life. The interesting the is that despite how impactful his actions regarding the Kindertransport were, they were a small episode in his life that he did not realize had such an impact until later. Winton was a very distinguished man with many impressive experiences, but this book was a bit of a slog to read.  The writing was just kind of plodding, but still worth learning about Winton.

Love Can't Feed You - Cherry Lou Sy - fiction - two stars - I really enjoy immigrant stories, so had high hopes for this one.  It's about Queenie a Filipino Chinese girl who comes to the US from the Philippines with her father and younger brother to join her mother who has been in the US for a while studying and saving up to bring the rest of the family over. This was not a happy immigrant story, far from it. None of the characters was at all appealing, I kept waiting for a redemption moment and it never came.  Not worth the time at all.

Pony Confidential - Christian Lynch - fiction - four stars - Penny has been arrested for murder, one that occurred years ago when she was twelve years old, and which clearly she did not commit.  Meanwhile her beloved pony that she abandoned at that time has been searching for her since to exact revenge for that abandonment. The quest to clear Penny's name brings the two of them back together.  This was a really cute book and I enjoyed it although it did drag a little big in terms of there was a lot of movement and running around and I feel like it's one of those movies that ends up being three and half hours long when it only needs to be two and half hours and someone should have done a bit more editing.  Still a very enjoyable book.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #2) - Hisashi Kashiwai - fiction - four stars - I really enjoyed the first book in this series and this is more of the same.  The Kamogawa Diner serves delicious food, but is also a detective agency of sorts.  Chef Nagare will research and recreate whatever dish you need.  The different stories and reasons that customers need these recreate dishes are sweet.  Great little book.

The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5) - Nita Prose - fiction - three stars - I have really enjoyed the Molly the Maid books.  This was a Christmas themed novella that was just OK.  I don't want to give away the story plot because it's kind of the whole point of the book, but it was pretty obvious/predictable which is not what I expect from these books.

Long Island Compromise - Taffy Brodesser-Akner - fiction - two stars - This one was another huge disappointment.  This book had been on all sorts of lists and just did not live up to the hype.  It's about the Fletcher family.  In 1980, the father is kidnapped and held for ransom.  The family pays the ransom and he's returned, but they are never the same again.  The book hops between his three kids and. how messed up they are.  None of them is a sympathetic character, they are all hugely flawed and there was really nothing redeeming happening in this book at all, just a whole bunch of messed up people.  Skip it.

February is shaping up to be pretty good so far.  I've already finished a couple of books and just started The Frozen River which is very good so far.  Let me know what you've been reading!