Share Your Shelf-October

It's the first Thursday of the month which means it's time to share what we've read the month prior. I've included a couple that carried over from September since I dropped the proverbial blog ball back then due to travel. 

This post is linked with Share Your Shelf hosted by Marilyn, Jennifer, Joanne, and Tanya. 

October was a pretty typical month for me...a couple of mysteries, fiction, a memoir, and historical fiction. I listened to to two of these books on Audible, and read the rest the old fashioned way aka actual books from the library. Here we go-

1.  The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese 

My goodness. I want to start by saying Abraham Verghese is an absolute masterful storyteller. Truly gifted. This book is over 700 pages long, which I know has some of you shaking your head and scrolling on by, but it's so good. Sooo good. The story flows. 

I listened to this one on Audible and I think that helped a lot with the Indian food-location-and people names. Plus the author narrates this one himself, and he has the most beautiful voice. I strongly encourage Audible here. As a side note- Abraham Verghese is an actual M.D., vice-chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford, and yet he somehow cranked out a 700+ page beauty of a book. 

As I said in my Hodgepodge a couple of weeks ago...I could use a bit more self discipline. 

The novel begins in 1900 and finally wraps up 80 some chapters later in 1977. Like I said though, don't let the length dissuade you. Set in Kerala India it follows three generations of a family with a mysterious drowning 'curse'. In each generation at least one family member dies by drowning. The story begins with a 12-year old girl from the Christian community in Kerala being sent by boat to her wedding. She will meet her 40-year old husband for the first time and honestly I don't want to say much more. She goes on to live a life of great love, great loss, great hardship and great joy. 

It's literally epic in scope and the exceptional changes she witnesses in her life are expertly woven into the story. There are new characters introduced along the way, yet I was never confused about the timeline or plot. It's just extraordinary. 

Easily 5 stars for me. 

2. The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

This was just okay for me. When Ruby Kenmore dies she's North Carolina's richest woman. She's notorious too as the victim of a famous kidnapping when she was a child, and then a widow four times over. Upon her death her large estate passes to her adopted son Camden who wants nothing to do with the house or money. 

Cam has rejected his inheritance and is working in Colorado as an English teacher, married to his wife Jules. Upon his uncle's death he's more or less forced to return to Ashby House and face the family and his past. Jules pushes him to lay claim to all that Ruby wanted for him, but her plans to make this happen are not as straightforward as they first seem.

I gave it three stars. 

3. The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden

This was our book club's October selection and was a quick read. Another book I thought was overhyped and completely unbelievable in spots, but it did keep me reading so there's that. The Housemaid is currently being turned into a feature film and I rarely say this, but I think it might make a better movie than book.  

The story revolves around a wealthy married couple, Nina and Andrew, and their newly hired housekeeper Millie, a recent parolee who is homeless and in desperate need of a job. Things quickly take a turn for the bizarre with Nina's unpredictable and erratic behavior and Millie's discovery that her own attic bedroom  locks from the outside. 

The book had a Gone Girl feel for me in that you go back and forth as to who you think might actually be crazy, guilty, victim or perpetrator. Three stars for me. 

4. It Wasn't Roaring It Was Weeping by Lisa-Jo Baker 

Lisa-Jo Baker was one of the first bloggers I followed when I started my own blog. I was drawn to her warm, honest writing, and her interesting background as a white child born in South Africa who grew up at the heart of Apartheid. She was trained as a lawyer, married an American, and currently makes her home with said husband and their three children in the D.C. suburbs. 

She's written extensively on motherhood, faith, and a life lived with a foot in two continents. I've continued to follow her on social media platforms and enjoy her warmth and skill with the written word. This is her memoir. 

Her story of growing up in an angry land with a well educated but often angry father, and how that anger seeped in to her own parenting. In her memoir she shares how she's made peace with her homeland's history and her own 'home' history too. Her father is a physician, still living, and she writes this book with his blessing. 

It's a story filled with raw emotion, and Lisa-Jo writes with great tenderness of God's grace, so evident in the healing of relationships, past hurts, and her family story.  I bought the book and would be glad to share if someone wants me to send it their way. If that's you, message me. 

5.  Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

Lisa See is one of my favorite authors. I don't think I've read a single book of hers that I haven't enjoyed, and this was no exception. This particular novel is set in 15th century China, and as you read you'll find yourself feeling grateful to have been born several centuries later. I always learn a lot about Chinese culture, history, and tradition when I read her books, and that was true in this instance too. Her fictional characters are so well drawn and you easily connect. 

Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a work of historical fiction based on the true story of Tan Yunxian, one of China's first female physicians. Yunxian is an upper-class woman, and is trained in Chinese medicine by her grandmother. When she's sent into an arranged marriage her new mother-in-law forbids her from seeing her childhood friend (from a lesser background, but also practicing in the field of medicine), or from helping the women in her new household by using her medical knowledge and skill. 

We see painful class distinctions as stories of female characters from poorer backgrounds are woven throughout. The power of female friendships, breaking with tradition, and women helping one another are at the heart of this story. 5 stars for me. 

6. Special Circumstances (Mike Daley #1) by Sheldon Siegel 

Mike Daley is a former priest, a former public defender, and in the first few pages you learn is now also a former partner in a prestigious California law firm. When his best friend and former colleague is accused of a brutal double murder Mike is hired to defend him and the story takes off from there. 

This was definitely a page turner. Hubs and I listened to this one on Audible while on a road trip and we had varying ideas as to the guilt or innocence of the accused as the story went along. A very enjoyable legal thriller and I'd read more featuring the Mike Daley character. I gave it 4 stars. 

Have you read anything good lately? If so, please share!