It's the first Thursday of the month which means it's time to join Joanne and Dara in sharing what we read the month prior. Here's mine-
The Borrowed Life Of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston
I actually read this one in September but forgot to include it in last month's recap. This is a sweet story, an enjoyable read, a little too long, and the premise just a little bit unbelievable, but you go with it because you like the characters so much.
Fred is an 82-year old widower who is broke, lonely, and nearing homelessness after spending his life savings on medical bills for his late wife Dawn. While walking near a river Fred finds a dead man in a wheelchair who happens to look exactly like him.
After an accidental roll down a hill Fred wakes up in the local nursing home and realizes he's been mistaken for the deceased man (Bernard). Fred decides to stay where the food is good, the bed is warm and he has instant friends. Complications arise when Bernard's estranged and pregnant daughter Hannah makes an unexpected visit and the story unfolds from there.
Lots of bathroom humor but they're senior citizens in a nursing home so maybe that's to be expected? Still I liked this one. It was sweet and what I'd dub a feel good read. I gave it four stars.
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
Raise your hand if you read
The Help. Everybody read it, right? Or maybe you saw the movie?
The Calamity Club is Kathryn Stockett's second novel, written some seventeen years after her wildly successful first novel-The Help. We're back in the south, Mississippi to be precise, and it's 1933 so the height of the Depression.
The story follows an 11-year old orphan named Meg, an unmarried bookkeeper named Birdie, and Meg's formerly imprisoned mother Charlie as she and Birdie form an unlikely partnership in an attempt to rescue Meg from institutional abuse. In order to fund the rescue Birdie and Charlie open a 'business'. ahem.
The book is over 600 pages long and I thought the middle could have been edited down without losing the storyline, but I did listen all the way to the end because I wanted to know what happened. I usually read 'real' books, but the Audible on this one is fantastic. You almost feel like you're listening to a play it's so well done.
I had trouble rating this one because my feelings were mixed. The 'business' began to wear on me, but the writing is terrific I cared a lot about Meg, who is a delightful little girl despite her circumstances, and I think most readers are rooting for her the whole way through. In the end I gave it four stars, mostly because I admire Stockett's ability to tell a story so completely and so well.
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon
This is my book club's November read and I'll say right off the bat I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's well written and in many spots feels like a novel. It's a book where you know the ending from the beginning and that knowledge hovers as you read.
A shipwreck is pretty much my worst nightmare, and actually not even a shipwreck. Rough seas. No thank you. I think a lot of people in our group voted to read this one because we all like the
Gordon Lightfoot song lol. Now that I've read the book I see how accurate the lyrics were. I also love the song
Brandy and it's mentioned several times in the book as it became the sailor's anthem of sorts.
The book chronicles the final, fatal 1975 voyage of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes. We learn about the lives that were lost and the families touched by the tragedy when it sank on Lake Superior during a massive storm.
I read the actual book which includes photographs. I knew almost nothing about life on the Great Lakes, how dangerous the shipping industry is there, and how brave the sailors. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, and while I was expecting dry, it was a really interesting and emotional read. Five stars for me.
Murder Takes A Vacation by Laura Lippman
My daughter's mother-in-law picked this one up in an airport and shared it with me when she was finished reading. I love a good mystery, and while this one did have you wondering, it was also quite silly in parts.
However! I had two doctor's appointments last week that had me feeling anxious as I waited to be called in, and this book was a great distraction.
Sometimes a light mystery is the perfect thing.
Laura Lippman typically writes mystery, crime fiction, and suspense so this one, while a mystery, was a little lighter than her usual fare.
The story centers around Muriel Blossom, a 68 -year old widower from Baltimore. Muriel won big in the lottery and booked a dream holiday to London followed by an upscale Seine river cruise in France. Her friend Elinor will join her for the cruise.
On her way to Europe Muriel meets Allen Turner, romance blooms, and then within 24 hours of arriving in Paris Allan is found murdered. If I had to use one word to describe Muriel it would be naive. Or too-trusting.
Muriel is then targeted by a number of suspicious characters in search of a missing artifact they believe Allen was carrying and the ending wraps up the whole thing in a tidy package. Like I said light, but still enjoyable.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Okay, who has read this and what did you think? It seems to be a love it or hate it kind of novel.
I wasn't going to read it, but a neighbor shared it with me so I figured, why not? One of my daughters told me she didn't think I'd like it and she was mostly right. Also, I follow Hannah Neeleman on Instagram aka Ballerina Farm, and pretty sure the author snatched a fair chunk of this story from Hannah's life. Not exactly, but I found myself thinking of her as I read.
Now I will say I loved the premise of this book, but the main character Natalie never hit the mark for me. She's a mother who hates motherhood, a farm wife who hates farming, oh and by the way she isn't too crazy about her husband either.
The story is described as a psychological thriller but I didn't get the thriller aspect at all. Natalie Heller Mills, is a successful 'Christian tradwife influencer' who has built her brand on a romanticized version of domestic bliss. Following a public scandal Natalie suddenly wakes up in the year 1855, where she's held captive by a brutal version of her own family and is forced to see the reality of the pioneer life she once sold as beatific to her millions of followers.
I thought this book had so much potential but it's filled with cliches (partly the point I suppose), and felt like it was written for the social media crowd. For sure with the intention of going right to film. Which it will. Honestly I heard Anne Hathaway would star in the book turned movie before the book even had much press.
I know I'm in the minority on this one but eh. Nope. Not for me.
If you read something great recently send it my way. Be sure to hop over to the host blogs to see what others are reading too.
