Book Review: The Devil all the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

Fire and Brimstone in the Midwest

This book didn't let me take a breath

Pollock gives us multiple stories with a host of characters that become intertwined. In the beginning there's really no way to see how they are going to connect but like trains set to crash directly, the links confront each other and it is powerful.

The characters are so fleshed out that they seem jarring and real. Each one, is so vividly portrayed and so harshly exposed that at some points it was uncomfortable but so fascinating.

There are some overarching themes in this book, including religion that has become misguided and warped by those who have taken it to extreme. There is also a fair dose of graphic darkness and criminal mindsets in this book that give it a macabre feel. In all of it there is a beauty to the writing even if the subject matter is disturbing. Powerful storytelling. . .  I would recommend this one.

Book Review: The Painter by Peter Heller

A Journey in an Artist's Mind

Art, Anger, Sorrow, Violence and Retribution

Meet Jim, an unexpected successful artist despite his ability to sabotage himself. Grief consumes him and his anger causes him to lash out. While his paintings are masterpieces and visual poetry, the rest of his life is in chaos except when he is fly fishing.

I don't want to give much away in this story but his narrative is fascinating. As he describes his painting you see the process and it's a cathartic expression, making sense of his life as he navigates emotions. I didn't think I would be able to identify with a middle age man in recovery with his demons but his voice resonated with me.

This is a wonderful book that I can't pigeonhole into a category. It stands by itself and was a great read.

Book Review: Sister by Rosamund Lupton

A Thriller

Beatrice flies back to England when she finds out her younger sister Tess is missing. Bee alternates between present time and recollection, narrating her story to an attorney, and also to her sister, as she tries to locate her.

As the story unfolds, Beatrice goes from planning a lecture to her artsy and impulsive sister who she fully plans to locate quickly, to defending her and finding out what truly happened when her death is ruled a suicide.

This book didn't stop with the twists. Everyone that Bee comes into contact with is a suspect and as a reader it's hard to figure out who might be involved.

During this journey, Bee also finds that being the uptight and scheduled person she is does not make her the better or more responsible sister. This story also is the musing and self discovery of an older sister that truly loves her younger sibling.

Book Review: The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Greatness. . . Think The Great Gatsby

I loved this one. 

I really don't know that I can say enough about how much I enjoyed this particular book. I don't use the comparison to The Great Gatsby often, but it's well deserved in this case.

The time period might be a little later, but the voices of the characters and the descriptions reminded me so much of that classic novel. Much of the story follows the theme of materialism and consumerism as we follow Katey Kontent's chance meeting at a bar in Greenwich Village with Tinker Gray, a charming banker who seems to have it all. This introduction connects Katey with a new group of people, the upper class located in Manhattan and their world.

As Katey and her friend Eve, rub shoulders with a new social class, we learn that life is not always what it seems. The glitter often dazzles but there's still raw emotion of envy, inadequacy, and all the things that everyone experienced. This book is also about networking at its finest. Before social media's inventions of LinkedIn and Twitter, showing up at an event was often enough to propel a person to new opportunities.

What I liked about this book was that we met Katey in present times when she sees photos of Tinker Gray at an exhibition and that triggers her reminiscing of the pivotal year of 1938 she experienced. Listening to her tell her story, and the story of all her friends in the past, shows a marked change of dialog and tone, than the present tense.

I found this book just fascinating. Enjoyable and fun. Read this one! 

Book Review: 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

Sometimes I seem to read books sequentially in themes. . .

Another related to WWII but again, a different perspective.  In this book the war is over but not the aftermath, as Silvana travels from Poland to join her husband in England. Her 8 year old son Aurek must get to know his father, a man he has never met, and share his mother with this stranger. After years of surviving, and living in the forest, they must become acclimated not just back to society but learn a new country and language. Silvana's husband's intent is to become a proper Englishman, and he tries to follow a rule book he has created in his mind to transform their family. But both Silvana and her husband Janusz are not the people they once were and they both have secrets and shame about the war. This books shows how love and sacrifice can take many forms.

I recommend this one.

Book Review: All the Light we cannot See by Anothony Doerr

A Story of War and the Lives of those who are Impacted

There are many stories of World War II and there have been many that have gone beyond the story of the Holocaust specifically and are often real tear jerkers. One that sticks in my mind is The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which followed the lives of those who were in the resistance in France. In some ways, All the Light we Cannot See remind me of this different perspective as it follows the lives of both a young girl who is blind, and a German boy, a Nazi soldier, in alternating stories. While at first it seems implausible that their lives will intersect, of course they do, as their paths cross during a battle to gain control of the walled citadel of Saint-Malo.

Marie-Laurie's story begins in Paris, where her father is the master locksmith for the Museum of Natural History. When she begins to go blind at six, her father makes it his mission to help her adapt to the world so she can continue to be independent. This includes building models of their city, in miniature so that she can learn the routes to everything. Because of the war, they are forced to leave the city she has learned to navigate independently, fleeing to Saint-Malo, to live with a great uncle by the sea. Unbeknownst to Marie-Laurie, her father has helped to smuggle a treasure from the museum to prevent it from falling into the Nazi's hands.

Werner is an orphan who is trying to escape the bleak future of the mining company that he will have to join as soon as he is old enough to work. It's the future for every local, and there aren't many choices for an orphaned boy. He finds an old broken radio that he manages to fix and this demonstrates an aptitude for mechanics and science which can be his way out of the town for him and his sister. This radio also provides a lifeline to the outside world, while the Nazis are beginning to come into power. Becuase of his talents, he is discovered and ultimately is awarded a spot in an academy for Hitler Youth, and ends up serving in the war, using his skills with radio equipment and numbers. Werner sees the brutality of his role as he tracks the resistance, leading him to Saint-Malo.

Both of their stories were fascinating and the moment that they merge is the culmination of the building plots. There ends up being more than one connection. The prose in this story is lyrical, even in the brutality and tragedy of war.

I highly recommend this book. I don't think I could say enough about it. Despite the subject, I found empathy not just for Marie-Laurie but for Werner as well. This is a testament to the author's ability to really make these characters living beings with dreams, loves and hope.

Book Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This Book was Almost the End of Me

Months. I have months into this book. That was why I was gone for so long. I started this late summer and somehow was stuck deep within it until well after the first of the year. Months. Literally months.

Usually, I just switch to a new book when I'm stuck. I am not sentimental and am ruthless about ending a book in the middle but I just couldn't do that with this one. I somehow became connected to Theo, our main character and protagonist that I wanted to personally strangle many times through our journey, that I couldn't give up on him, even when he gave up on himself.

This book is almost a series of smaller books about Theo that could be compartmentalized. First his mother is killed in a terrorist attack in New York City when a museum is bombed. This begins the connection and obsession with the Goldfinch painting that Theo steals during the incident. His connection to this painting is a common thread in this whole book as he goes from NYC to Las Vegas and back to New York as we follow the chronicles of his life.

I went through this book in spurts, putting it down but always coming back. In the end it was worth it. It won a Pulitzer Prize for a reason. I just had to remove myself from Theo and his world many times so I could come back and still enjoy it.

Book Review: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Zombies: A More Human Version

Yes, another movie that apparently I'm the only one who had not seen so the book was new for me. I also am not the hugest Zombie fan and can't stand to sit through an entire episode of Walking Dead as they moaning gets on my nerves.

This is different. R, a zombie, is having an existential crisis. See he kind of remembers being a human and is trying to reconnect the circuits to his memory. He's also madly in love with the girlfriend of one of his victims. . . he has absorbed the emotions of the young man along with his actual brain.

This is comedic of course, and also very sweet. It's not my typical book but I really did enjoy it. Looking for clip art today, I found that there's a prequel and another book in the series. I will have to check them out.

Book Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Momentum Builds

Yes, I know it's a movie and maybe I'm the only one that didn't know the twists that would come but I so loved this book. I highly recommend it. Watch a woman who at first seems desperate and miserable with her life, unravel the story behind her personal failures to realize that not everything is how it seems.

Great book.

Book Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

This Book is Both Beautiful and Sad.

I had to sit with it for a while. It's been months to reflect (I read it in the fall) if I enjoyed it our not. It was complex and had me running through a series of emotions that were often hard to decipher.

The story is about Lydia, who has died, drowned in a pond near her home. Lydia was scared of water and how did she end up there?

This story is about so much more than Lydia as we watch the family struggle to come to terms what happened and why. Lydia is the beloved daughter in a Chinese American family. That heritage is important to this story as we watch the family untangle in their grief. Each member plays an important role in this story.

Besides for the intrigue, and often melancholy content, this book is beautifully written. I wouldn't call it a happy read by any means but the prose is often like poetry.

Book Review: Gypsy Brothers by Lili St. Germain

This was a Moment of Weakness that Lasted 7 Books

Yes, you heard me right. I'm going to call it a "moment of weakness". 

I absolutely devoured these books. Then I read the epilogue too.

This was recommended as the series to read if you were having withdrawal from Son's of Anarchy. Yes, I love SOA too. I'm admitting all kinds of things that maybe I should keep to myself.

Now these books aren't deep and they aren't going to be life changing, but they are fun. Follow Juliette's plan to avenge her family's betrayal at the hand's of his motorcycle club, which includes the new leader (who betrayed him) and his seven sons. She has some pretty diabolical plans on ending all of them.

This is violent of course, and not very realistic, but neither was SOA. Somehow in a book form without the actual blood and guts to see, I found it very easy reading. Sometimes I did have to turn away when I watched SOA.

This is a good escape. I read them in a weekend. Short and easy to read. Enjoy.

Book Review: Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander Series)

Book 8 

Should I feel accomplished or a little sad?

Well it's a little bit of both, actually. I enjoyed this book and felt like I was running the last few yards towards the finish line in my marathon of reading this series straight through but there is a lot to still know and I have to wait quite a while to get any more of the story.

It was a good story, and brought more dimension to some of the characters that we have been introduced to in the last couple of books, which was interesting. However, as I had noticed in the last book, it's in some ways having a negative impact on the storytelling for me. While the "voices" have alternated in many of the books between chapters, now there are more of these various perspectives that often make the story choppy, but this may be a way that the author is able to progress through the story at a faster pace?

Where this becomes an issue for me is that a central plot just disappears for long portions of the book after being an important component to the story. For instance Bree, Roger, and their kids take up a huge portion of the first half of this book and then disappear for most of the second half.

All in all this book was a good story, well written and entertaining. The author is working #9, but it's going to be a while.

Now to find something else to read. . . it's been months since I had to pick out a book.

Book Review: An Echo in the Bone (Outlander Series) by Diane Gabaldon

Still Trudging Along but we are Picking up Speed

The Pace is Getting Faster

I have been reviewing these books in what seems like forever but I'm determined to see this through the end. While some of the books (3-5 for sure) really draaaaag at some parts, I have been much happier with the more recent ones. I do have to say that the author's pace is often sporadic, going from really detailed and long passages about certain portions of the plot to breakneck speed to speak to a part in the story that seems to really need a lot more. I feel like we race and then brake. . . and it doesn't always seem to make sense or seem justified when it seems like a pivotal point in the story and we only get a few pages on it.

For instance, in this book, Jamie and Claire return to Scotland and that would be an important point. However, we aren't there long. I was happy to avoid pages and pages about the travel but actually returning to Lollybroch should have been more detailed?

I'm already into book 8 - Written in My Own Heart's Blood - and this one has a completely different style. I do know that this is the last one I will have for a while. I'm not sure I even know how to pick out a book to read anymore as I've been on this train since September 2015! While I don't think this is even writing when you look at these books as a whole I highly recommend sticking with it through those books (3-5) to get to this point. I think it's worth it. One last review when I get #8 done and then waiting for Book 9!

Book Review: A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander) by Diane Gabaldon

Installment 6 is back on track

I have not been as positive about the last few books in this series and have maintained consistently that they just can't live up to the beginning of the story of Jamie and Claire. Many of the more recent books focus on other characters and give them voice, including Jamie and Claire's daughter Brianna and her husband Roger.

While this book also provided different perspectives I have to say that this one was enjoyable and I found myself sneaking off when I had a few minutes to return to this story. While the other characters are still giving their voices it seems that they have fully developed now or maybe I have come to care about them as well? In any event this story is better and really provides us with an opportunity to see the rebellion being ignited along with Jamie and Claire that will lead to the American Revolution.

One criticism I do have is how many times can rape, or potential rape, be a central theme in these books? It seems like each installment has at least one woman falling victim or having to fight off someone . . . It seems like some twists and story elements keep returning to these books and I wish the author would come up with something new.

All in all I really loved this book and have already started Book 7. I'm curious to see what Jamie and Claire are up to next as this book will take place during the American Revolution.

Book Review: The Fiery Cross (Outlander Series) by Diane Galbadon

Book 5

It's been a commitment 

Even as I write this I am admonishing myself for being so whiny. As I have mentioned before, the first book is the best, but I've made a commitment to see this through. I have thought about how I would review this one because while I wouldn't recommend it, I have started Book Six - A Breath of Snow and Ashes, and it's already so much better than this one. I don't think you can actually skip this one but I would do my best to skip it.

Premise? Well that's just it. There really isn't much of one. It's set in pre-revolutionary America and it's the background for what is imminently coming. As Claire knows the history, as well as Roger and Brianna, they are trying to get ready for what is to come.

In so many ways this book is more mundane that the rest and it's almost as they get a little more boring as we continue on with the story. I'm just hoping that Book 6 continues to be better than the last few.

I can't really recommend this but I can't dissuade you either. If you are like me, and you have gotten this far, you just want to see it through.

Book Review: Drums of Autumn (Outlander Series) by Diana Galbadon

Book #4. . . 

. . . I am trudging along and I'm really up to #6 right now but I'm not stopping and often lose track where one books ends and another begins. Think of a very long story that continues to go on and on. . .

That probably doesn't sound as enthusiastic as it could be, does it? As I have said before, the first book continues to be my favorite and while I love Jamie and Claire, there are days where I have to say that I have to take a break from them. It's kind of like family; after a long weekend or vacation you might want just a few minutes to yourself.

Galbadon does branch out a bit by really giving us a little bit of a more intimate portrayal of Brianna and Roger in this book. Brianna goes back in time with news of the future (in the past) to warn Jamie and Claire of impending danger. While in the past I have not really been all that fond of Brianna, in this book we really get to know her a little better and she can hold her own as a character to tell a story. However, Galbadon now alternates between telling the story from Claire's view, in first person, but telling the story from Jamie, Brianna and Roger's perspective, in third person which can sometimes be annoying.

While I really do love Jamie most of all, I really could do without the author continuing to describe his hair and the colors it takes on in the light, as well as all his scars, as Claire continues to go in great detail in her adoration about her husband. It's almost as if the author wants to rehash certain elements in case the reader is coming in the middle of the story and hasn't started in the beginning with Outlander. If that's the case, put a huge warning sheet at the beginning of each book telling new readers to go back!

I have to make this a "book worth reading" because it's important to the overall storyline and is a must to continue with the series.  Seeing Brianna reunite with her father, set with the backdrop of the Early American history, is interesting and gives you more characters to love. I am just going to say that Outlander is the best and could stand all by itself.

Book Review: Voyager (Outlander Series) by Diana Galbadon

And then there were three. . . 

The binge reading continue. I've already reviewed Book 1, Outlander, and Book 2, Dragonfly in Amber. From what I understand, this third book may have been at one point the culmination in a trilogy but perhaps because this series was so wildly successful, Galbadon continues on. Right now there are 8 books in this series, with an anticipated 9th on its way. Additionally there are novellas and a Lord John Grey series that have also been published.

Voyager focuses on Claire's return to Jamie and the past. They are reunited and have to become reacquainted while they also have the typical trials and tribulations that continue to plague them. After all, Claire and Jamie can't live happily ever after. Twenty years have gone by and there's a lot that has happened to both of them in that time.

This book is about rescuing Iain who has been kidnapped by pirates, and they travel to the Caribbean to find him. Most of this book takes place on ships rather than land, and there is a host of new characters to deal with as the adventure continues.

I have to say that there are part of this book that are rather slow. I can only stay interested in life on a ship for so long, and reading about Jamie's sea sickness. I also think that sometimes characters reappear in the story that are beyond what you would call an "unrealistic coincidence" but ultimately I really did love the story and have already started #4, Drums of Autumn.

Book Review: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Binge Reading at its Best

The second in the Outlander series

I think anyone that has a DVR, or Netflixx, has binged watched a series at some point in their lives. I have saved up episodes of Sons of Anarchy, and have watched multiple episodes of Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

With books it's a little more difficult because of the time it will take an author to write subsequent installments. I have found that often when I have to wait between books, I have a hard time falling back in line and am confused as the passage of time has faded the necessary details to keep up with the twists in the plot. I felt this way after trying to read the second book by Deborah Harkness in the All Souls Trilogy (Shadow of the Night) and more recently with Hollow City, the second part of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Once you have read the first book, you crave more but then you have to wait for it to be created.

I didn't have that same issue with Harry Potter, initially. When I "discovered" Harry Potter, I was able to buy a hardcover set of the first five books and the sixth one was on the way. By the time I finished the set, I was able to transition seamlessly into the sixth book. However, there was a span of time between that and the final book which lead to me having to go back and look up a couple of details that would be lost.

I bring this up because I read the first book of this series years ago, Outlander, I probably in the early 90's soon after it came out, but did not read the second book immediately afterwards. These were the days before we had Amazon to recommend subsequent books and I'm not sure I knew that several others existed. Therefore this time, I am going to try to read all 8 books in rapid succession. As I write this blog, I'm knee deep in Voyager already.

In terms of this actual installment, it's a really great book but it just can't live up to the first one even if it's a continuation. So much of this book is about Claire's life in the present with flashbacks to her return in the 40's, pregnant with Brianna and her adjustment back into modern life and with her relationship with Frank. The parts of the story that focus on Jamie in the 1700's are interesting but you lose something without the two of them together.

This is a necessary portion of the story and by no means is boring, it's just different. As a fan of the series, you want Claire and Jamie together but we have to have the history of twenty years, both in the 1700's and 1900's, explained so that when we do reunite them we understand what has changed.

Okay, review done, I'm going back to reading.

Book Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Sometimes a Book is Just as Good the Second Time. . .

. . . and maybe a third?

I have read this book before, and yes, it might be the third time. I know I read at least the second book after this in the series but it was years ago and not all of the rest that are available were around to add to the journey.

Recently, with the promotion of the television series based on these books, the stories have cropped up again and I thought that I would revisit these stories. I have seen glimpses of the series in the form of still shots and I don't know that I will watch it as I have a visual image of what Jamie and Claire should look like and I think that seeing them in the flesh may ruin that for me.

If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it and it was just as entertaining this time around. While it's featured as a sci fi series right now, this is also a historical romance with a sense of humor as well as an adventure. I seem to recall liking the rest of the story, featured in Books 2 and 3, less, but we will see this time around as I have 8 of them in my possession and plan to try to read them back to back. I did that with Harry Potter 1-5 and that was quite a binge as I didn't have to wait for publication dates.

I probably should tell you just a little bit about the plot? In case you don't know. Claire is reunited with her husband after the war and is vacationing in Scotland to become reacquainted. She ends up going back in time by accident, to the 18th Century. Through a series of events, this British woman ends up married to a Scot and caught between two worlds and two loves. What she knows about the past, from her original time, can impact history in this new world she lives in.

Fun stuff. Highly entertaining and I dare you not to fall in love with Jamie. On to Book 2 because I have it. I don't even have to come up for air!

Book Review: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

While this Story Spans Three Generations, In Some Ways it Never Went Anywhere. . . 

This story begins in present day, with Abby Whitshank lamenting over her son's rootless life and his inability to stay connected with their family. We learn that Abby is a retired social worker with four adult children and a host of characters that she takes in as extended members of her clan through family dinners.

This story soon tells us more about the adult children, as well as her past, especially in the story of her in laws and their history that lead them to be secured in the current family home.

While we learn a lot about Abby and the generation that preceded her, as well as the future generation, in many ways this story did not really go anywhere but became a snapshot of a family.

In many ways it was authentic and probably is a testament to many lives all across in America. However, while I came to know many of these characters and found them interesting, I did not empathize with any of them. The book was pleasant enough to read but I wouldn't go a far as to recommend it. In some ways it was hollow.