Review: The Paris Library (by Janet Skeslien Charles)

My Rating: 4 stars

This felt like such a perfect read!  As a book lover, I'm of course drawn to stories about libraries and book stores, but the added bonus with this story is that it also covers one of my favorite genres: historical fiction.  Based on real life people and events, this dual timeline narrative tells the story of the American Library in Paris and the efforts of its staff to keep the library open during the German occupation of France in World War II. The main narrative in the past is told from the perspective of Odile Souchet, the 20-year-old daughter of a police commissioner who gets her dream job working at the Library — she quickly grows close to the staff she meets at the library and together, they join the effort to fight the Nazis the best way they know how: through the power of literature.  In a second timeline interspersed throughout the story, teenager Lily lives in a small town in Montana in the 1980s — lonely and bored, Lily's curiosity is piqued by the elderly woman living next door to her, a widow named Odile Gustafson who mostly keeps to herself, yet has a sophisticated nature about her that stands out in such a small town.  Discovering that they share a lot in common, Lily and Odile strike up a friendship that grows into a special bond as Lily learns more and more about Odile's past and the circumstances that caused her to leave France.

When I first picked this book up, knowing that it would be historical fiction set during WWII, I admit that I was expecting a very different type of story.  Given the subject matter, I thought the story would be bleak and depressing, but while there was certainly sadness, the overall tone was hopeful and uplifting.  Having said that, I definitely preferred the past narrative to the present one, as I loved reading about the library and what went on, plus the characters were wonderfully drawn (it was fascinating to read the Author's Note at the end and find out which characters were actually real people). With the present narrative, the aspect I appreciated most was the special friendship between Odile and Lily, the connection they had, and how we find out towards the end the significance of the two of them entering each other's lives at the times they did.

This is a book that I would definitely recommend, as it is absorbing, engaging, and absolutely atmospheric — a lovely story from an angle that doesn't get covered much in the canon of WWII fiction.  I appreciate how the author didn't gloss over the serious stuff — the grueling history of that time period and some of the atrocities that took place — but at the same time, didn't take a heavy-handed approach either.  It's not often that I feel compelled to do additional research after reading a book, but this one definitely did — I was so fascinated by the story that I wanted to read more about the Library and the real-life people who had made things happen.  To me, that's as sure an indication as any as to how much I liked this book!  In addition to looking forward to this author's next book, I also hope to check out her acclaimed debut at some point!

Received ARC from Atria Books via NetGalley

Review: Waiting for the Night Song (by Julie Carrick Dalton)

My Rating: 4 stars

This was another one of those books that I found difficult to fit neatly into a single genre.  While the timeline was a bit ambiguous (the chapters alternated between "that summer" and "present day"), there was a strong contemporary fiction vibe with many of the issues explored in the "present day" narrative -- climate change, illegal immigration, racism, politics vs science, etc. – mirroring so closely with so many "hot-button" issues that we as a society are dealing with currently (and have been at the forefront of discussions the past few years).  Having said that, there was also a mystery / thriller component to the story that overlapped both timelines, with "the truth" about the defining event that occurred in the past eventually being revealed in the present.   

From a genre perspective, I felt that the contemporary piece was quite solid overall, which I guess shouldn't be too surprising given the author Julie Carrick Dalton's background as a journalist.  This was definitely apparent in the extensive detail with which Dalton was able to present the events around the climate crisis as well as the complexities of the immigration discussion.  In all honesty, I personally have not paid much attention to the climate change discussion, I'm not a "science-y" person and a lot of the explanations out there about the topic seem to go over my head — but the way Dalton presented the topic, through the fictional story of Cadie (who later grows up to be an entomologist) and her best friend Daniela, the childhood adventures they have in the forests surrounding their properties, the challenges that arise nearly 30 years later, etc., helped provide some clarity about the climate crisis that I had a struggled to understand reading about the topic via other means.  Of course, there's a lot I still don't understand about the topic (and probably never will), but the fact that I was able to comprehend as much as I did speaks to the power of fictional story-telling in helping us understand real-life events and situations.

With all that said, what didn't work as well was the mystery / thriller aspect of the story.  I felt that the attempt to craft a compelling thriller was a bit weak, as the plot points were predictable and too easy to figure out.  In fact, I actually was able to guess "the truth" quite early on, so when it came time for the big reveal, the surprise element was no longer there.  Also, some of the events meant to "explain" the mystery felt a bit forced — as I was reading, it became obvious to me that the strongest parts of the story were those not having to do with the "mystery" thread.  

Overall, this was a good story with well-drawn characters. I especially appreciated how the author explored modern day issues in a way that was both respectful and approachable.  Of course, no story is perfect and as much as I liked the approach the author took, I also felt that, at times, the various "big topics" covered here were competing with each other for space — especially in the "present day" timeline, the writing was a bit uneven in that there would be large sections about the climate issue, about science and politics, but those parts felt randomly inserted and separate from the other threads.  This did affect the flow a little in my opinion, but not to the point of negatively impacting the story.  

I'm glad I read this one, as the story was a timely one and I learned things I wasn't expecting.  As this was Dalton's debut, I look forward to seeing what she brings to the table next.

Received print ARC from Forge Books

Review: Faye, Faraway (by Helen Fisher)

My Rating: 2.5 stars

I don't read much science fiction, as the genre just doesn't interest me and I don't want to waste my time slogging through books that I know I most likely won't enjoy.  Having said that though, I AM open to occasionally trying out books of other genres with sci-fi themes worked into the story (as long as it's not hard-core sci-fi stuff) and there have been plenty of times where I actually had a good reading experience.  This is one of the reasons why I decided to pick up Helen Fisher's debut novel Faye, Faraway – with its premise as a "heartfelt" story about family, relationships, love, and time travel, I thought it would be one of the "exceptions" that I would be able to appreciate.  The summary describes this as an emotionally gripping, contemporary story about a woman named Faye who time travels back to the past to see her mother, who had died 30 years ago when Faye was just 8 years old.  Faye becomes friends with her mother (who doesn't know who she is of course) and the more time she spends with her, the more Faye doesn't want to let her go, even though she knows she must do so in order to return to her beloved husband and 2 daughters.  In the end, faced with an impossible scenario, Faye must choose between a second chance to make things right with her mother in the past or letting go and returning to her happy life with her family in the present.  Based on this premise, I went into this one expecting to be moved and perhaps to even shed a tear or two – but my reaction ended up being the opposite.  Instead of the expected emotional reaction, I ended up feeling super annoyed and frustrated, both with how the story played out, as well as with the characters. 

 

The story is narrated from Faye's first-person perspective, which I feel like is one of the things that didn't work too well in this instance, as it seemed that Faye spent way too much time explaining and justifying (and re-explaining and re-justifying) practically every action she takes, especially as it pertains to her time travel.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I found most of her arguments irrational and nonsensical.  I'm all for flawed characters in stories (as we are only humans after all and are bound to make mistakes and bad decisions), but I also need to see these characters grow in some way as the story progresses, rather than remain one-dimensional from beginning to end.  With Faye, I felt like she didn't change throughout the story – her behavior was childish and immature from the start and it continued to be up until the very end.  I also got annoyed by the fact that Faye would act overly unreasonable and stubborn throughout nearly the entire story – even when others tried to reason with her, she didn't seem to want to listen.  Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I just find it hard to believe that Faye's overwhelming desire to see her dead mother again (even she herself called it an "obsession") could be all-consuming to the point that she was willing to put the life and happiness that she spent over 30 years building,  (not to mention her family's happiness) in jeopardy.  The first time Faye encountered this dilemma (going back versus remaining in the present), I  could understand her struggle with it and even empathize with her, but after repeated conversations with people who would tell her over and over again the dangers of her actions and how it wasn't worth the risks, and even after she acknowledged they were right, but most importantly, she recognized that it was unfair to put her husband and daughters through the ordeal of potentially losing her if she got stuck in the past and couldn't return, she still insisted on going, as she missed her mom too much not to do so.   It was unfathomable to me how she could be so irrational and irresponsible, especially given how much she claimed that she couldn't bear to leave her family.

 

The other part of this whole thing that annoyed me was the fact that Faye felt like she couldn't tell her husband Eddie the truth (about her time traveling) because she knew he would try to stop her (especially since each time she traveled back in time, she would get physically injured) and she wouldn't be able to bear it – so she decides to lie to him, even though she knows full well her husband can see right through her (as she repeats this continuously throughout the story).  Then, when it gets to the point that her husband can't stand it anymore and thinks she's having an affair, she becomes indignant and belligerent, almost as though she is outraged that her husband would think such thoughts – again, her reaction made no sense given that she was the one evading his questions and telling him lies that even she herself didn't find plausible.  And then later, Faye berates the one friend who believed in her — when he tried to persuade her not to take the risk of going back to the past again due to the dangers and what it would do to her family, she insults him and claims that he's jealous and throws his disability (blindness) at him...she even tells herself she knows she's being unfair and he's only trying to help her, but she's so mad at her own helplessness that she lashes out at anyone who tries to "walk her down from the ledge."  Basically, my experience with this book was that each scene as the story progressed got more and more ridiculous, with Faye's behavior more and more reckless and hysterical – needless to say, the more I read, the more frustrated I became.  

 

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to characters in books are immature adults who behave unnecessarily defiantly – meaning they know that certain behaviors and/or actions are not constructive and, upon taking the time to weigh the risks, they understand that the outcome would be more harm than good, yet they proceed with the bad decision anyway, all the while telling themselves the equivalent of "I know I shouldn't but I'm going to do it anyway" (and then of course regret it later when things don't go as planned).  Characters like these frustrate me to no end, especially when their actions and behavior make them come across as stereotypical (which Faye certainly did in this story, at least to me).  Unfortunately, in this instance, it wasn't just the characters, as parts of the plot didn't make sense either, plus certain sections were bogged down by wordiness, with explanations and excessive descriptions of things that didn't seem to have anything to do with advancing the narrative. 

 

Overall, I struggled with this one and while I wouldn't say it was a complete lost cause (I did finish the book after all), I felt that much of the story was a stretch and there really didn't seem to be a point to it.  If I had to sum this one up, I would say that it's basically Faye on infinite loop trying to justify her time traveling with back-and-forth arguments that honestly didn't warrant 300 pages to get across.  I also didn't feel the emotional pull that others seemed to experience with this book, though this was likely due to my annoyance with the main character being so strong that it was hard to feel anything else for her or any of the other characters.  It could also be this was just the wrong book at the wrong time for me given the events of this past week and being inundated with examples of people showing poor judgment and making bad decisions.  As I'm an outlier on this one amongst the many 4 and 5 star reviews, I would definitely recommend checking out those reviews as well for a more balanced perspective.

 

Received ARC from Gallery Books via NetGalley.

 

Review: Meet Me in Bombay (by Jenny Ashcroft)

My Rating: 4 stars

As my first official read of the new year, Jenny Ashcroft's Meet Me in Bombay is a book that I found difficult to put down as soon as I started reading it.  When I first read the book's summary and saw that the premise would be a love story set in Bombay, against the backdrop of the Great War, I admit that I was a little apprehensive, as I'm not usually one to gravitate toward love stories for one, and two, I wasn't sure what to expect with Ashcroft being a "new-to-me" author whose previous works I've never read. Also, while I'm a fan of historical fiction, I'm not too keen on historical romances, which I knew this one would be going into it.  In the end though, the setting of pre-WWI Bombay won me over, mainly because there are so few historical fiction novels nowadays that are set in this time period, so to come across one, even if it's a romance, I felt it would still be worth my time.  I'm glad I went with this one, as it turned out to be a good story, well told (even though there were definitely moments where I felt frustrated with parts of the story).

 

The story revolves around Madeline ("Maddy") Bright, the daughter of a British diplomat stationed in Bombay, India during the early 1900s.  Having spent most of her childhood and adult life in England, Maddy returns to the place of her birth thinking it will only be a temporary visit to see her parents – however, due to unforeseen circumstances back home, she ends up remaining in Bombay indefinitely.  At a New Year's Eve party in 1913, she meets charismatic Luke Devereaux and over the course of the next few months, they fall deeply in love. As Maddy and Luke are on the brink of planning for a happy future together, World War I erupts and as Luke is in the reserves, he has no choice but to join the ranks and fight in the war.  Forcibly separated due to circumstances beyond their control, Maddy is consoled by Luke's promise to return to her after the war – a promise that becomes difficult to keep after Luke emerges from the war broken and unable to remember the woman he once loved.

 

Based on the summary, I initially went into this one thinking the story would be predictable, but was pleasantly surprised that the author ended up taking an entirely different direction than I anticipated.  Right off the bat, the structure of the story was already unique, as it started off with snippets of what sounds like a letter from a soldier to his lost love, and then from there, the narrative goes back and forth in time, slowly revealing bits and pieces of a story that we don't get a full picture of until the very last pages. It was an interesting structure and I came away with a sense of awe at how the story turned out (with my immediate reaction being to go back through some of the previous sections in the later timeline to validate the way the threads came together). 

 

In terms of the writing, Ashcroft's style here was very descriptive, and like most good historical fiction, atmospheric to the point that I felt transported to the time and place and circumstances that the characters were experiencing.  With that said though, some parts were a bit too descriptive and unnecessarily drawn out, but fortunately it didn't detract too much from the overall story (at least it didn't to me).   I found this to be an immersive read – so much so that I ended up finishing it in two sittings without even realizing it.  My one complaint though, as I alluded to earlier, was that some parts of the story frustrated me, especially as it pertained to a few of the characters (i.e. Maddy and her mother Alice) and the (at times) seemingly intentional lack of communication between some of them which resulted in things happening that I felt were preventable.  I saw these instances as "melodrama for melodrama's sake," which never fail to annoy me whenever they occur in any story (not just this one).  Luckily, these moments were few enough that it didn't negatively impact the story in a huge way.

 

So far, it looks like my 2021 reading life is getting off to a good start.  While there's no way for me to anticipate how this new year will turn out, one thing I can always rely on is that I will encounter at least a few (hopefully way more) good books that enhance my reading experience.  I'm excited and definitely looking forward to it!

 

Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

 

2020 Year In Review

Happy New Year!

As I sit down to write this recap and reflect upon what type of year this has been, I can’t help but agree with everyone who has used words such as “challenging” or “unprecedented” or “difficult” to describe 2020.   While everyone copes with difficult situations in a myriad of different ways, my “go-to” method in times of stress has always been to escape my worries by seeking solace in books and reading.  So as I look back at my reading life in 2020, it is definitely not a surprise to me that I have read more books this past year than I have any other year to date.  Though technically speaking, my total number of books read this past year, on average, is not too huge of a difference from past years (that number usually hovers between 55 to 60 books), I feel like I’ve gotten more out of my reading in 2020 than I have compared to other years.  While there were definitely months where it was difficult to focus given everything else that was going on in the world, one thing I noticed about my reading life this past year is that it was a lot more “reflective” than years past -- meaning that I seemed to gravitate more toward books that were either “comfort reads” for me in genres that I love, or that added to my understanding and helped me make (some) sense of the complicated world I’m currently living in.    

For 2021, one of the things I would like to do is go back to trying out genres that I don’t normally read (i.e. sci-fi and fantasy) – which I’ve done the past couple years but didn’t in 2020 because of the reasons mentioned above.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been a huge advocate of reading widely and diversely -- while I still found ways to diversify my reading last year, genre-wise I pretty much stuck to the “tried and true” ones where I knew it would be more likely for me to have a positive reading experience.  

In addition to the above, another big goal for 2021 in terms of my reading life is to read more of the books I own or that are on either my physical or electronic bookshelves.  I bought a lot of books last year (in both e-book and print format), many of which I have not had the chance to read.  Of course, I will still be requesting and reading ARCs of new releases like I usually do (I don’t see myself ever being able to get away from that), but I hope to manage it better this year in terms of balancing ARCs of new releases with backlist books that I already own.

So without further ado, here’s my recap, starting with stats from my 2020 reading log: 

 

 

Favorite Reads of 2020

Below is my list of favorite reads this year (in no particular order) – all of these books I rated 5 stars:        

I’d Give Anything by Marisa de los Santo

 

The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama

 

Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel

 

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

 

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

 

Stories from Suffragette City (short story collection edited by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis)

 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

The following books I rated 4.5 stars, which for me means that they were all excellent books in their own right, it’s just that they didn’t give me the 5 star “vibe” due to a minor flaw or two:

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

 

These Women by Ivy Pochoda

 

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

 

Eat a Peach by David Chang

 

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

 

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

 

 

The following books I rated 4 stars but they were particularly enjoyable reads for me so I figured I would mention them as well (again, in no particular order):

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

 

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

 

All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

 

Hollywood Park: A Memoir by Mikel Jollett

 

Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini

 

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

 

Deceit and Other Possibilities by Vanessa Hua

 

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

 

Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein

 

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

 

Lovely War by Julie Berry

 

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

 

The Second Home by Christina Clancy

 

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

 

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

 

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

 

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

 

Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis

 

Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker

 

A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling

 

White Ivy by Susie Yang

 

Relish:  My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

 

You Have a Match by Emma Lord