This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

 

First Line: The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.

Since the death of her husband, celebrity memoir editor Tilly Nightingale has been in a fog of grief. Unable to enjoy her favorite books and her crafts, she is shocked to receive a call from a local bookshop telling her she has a gift waiting for her there.

The gift is from her beloved husband Joe. With the help of shop owner Alfie Lane, Joe has chosen a year of books for Tilly-- twelve books, each with a handwritten letter from him.

Seduced by her husband's words, Tilly becomes immersed in each book, and each one encourages her to open a new chapter in her life.

~

Like humor, grief is a very personal and very subjective emotion. After reading so many good things about This Book Made Me Think of You, I decided to read it. 

Having lost my own husband for about the same length of time as the main character, Tilly Nightingale, I was naturally drawn in by her situation. For the first half of the book, I enjoyed watching Tilly immerse herself in each book that her husband Joe had chosen for her. These books not only addressed her grief, but also began to help her with other issues in her life. 

Unfortunately, the second half of the book began to drag for me. Why? Because it was extremely predictable. Now... I know that a predictable, feel-good story can be just what the doctor ordered. It can give flagging spirits just the boost they need. I've had this happen to me. However, the magic just didn't work for me this time. Is it because of my own situation? I don't know. But, as I said, grief is a very subjective emotion. Just because this wasn't the right book for me at the right moment doesn't mean that it won't be for you.

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

eISBN: 9798217187003

Berkley © 2026

eBook, 416 pages

Standalone Fiction

Rating: B-

Source: Purchased from Amazon

The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper

 

First Line: New Hampshire, 1950. The woman steps back from her workbench, surveying the completed boxy wooden structure.

When head curator Tildy Barrows discovers a secret room in the beautiful Belva Curtis LeFarge Archival Library in San Francisco, she knows she's found just the thing to save the struggling establishment: two exquisite never-before-seen dollhouses.

Tildy sets out to decipher the histories of the dollhouses after finding clues hidden within the miniatures. Her search sends her to the worlds of Belle Époque Paris, a group of wounded World War I veterans in the English countryside, and Walt Disney's Burbank studios in the 1950s.  As the mystery unravels, she finds not only inspiring, hidden history, but also a family revelation, and a future for herself.

~

I am enjoying all the stories that are being written about overlooked women in world history, whether real or fictional. Elise Hooper's The Library of Lost Dollhouses is another strong addition to this category, and her Author's Note at the end explains the people who inspired her characters.

The story spans a century and is told by two women, one, head curator Tildy Barrows who is passionate about saving the Belva Curtis LeFarge Library in San Francisco. As she described it, I wished I could go there and wander through all the rooms-- marvelous! The second is Cora Hale, extraordinary artist and creator of the most exquisite dollhouses I've ever read about. (I love the Thorne Rooms in the Phoenix Art Museum and have visited them many times, so this is a subject that's interested me for a long time.) I love how Cora was able to incorporate women's secrets into the houses she created for them.

Another strong point in this book was the descriptions of how difficult it is to keep a place like the LeFarge Library afloat, especially after the pandemic. As the book traveled from one place to the next, from Tildy's life and then back to Cora's, I couldn't wait until all was revealed. All in all, this is a heart-warming read that's well worth your time.

The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper

eISBN: 9780063382152

William Morrow © 2025

eBook, 315 pages

Fiction, Dual Timeline

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

First Line: Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over.

 

It's the early 1960s, and chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your typical woman. Only one man at the Hastings Research Institute realizes that she is a treasure: Calvin Evans, the Nobel Prize-nominated scientist who falls in love with her mind.

 

A few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself a single mother and-- wonder of wonders-- the very reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Her unusual approach to cooking is revolutionary, but as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo. 

~

I kept hearing about Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry, but it took me a while before I finally got around to finding out what all the talk was about. I decided to listen to the audiobook, and I found Miranda Raison's narration perfect. She brought Elizabeth Zott to life.

Elizabeth Zott will strike a chord with most women. Like it or not, most women have dealt with the same problems she has. What makes this story truly wonderful is that no matter the experiences she must endure, Garmus tells her story with a light touch. She never mines the depths, and the reader is never far away from a smile. 

Readers may learn a bit about chemistry, research labs, and television in the early 1960s, but that's merely a byproduct. What I loved about Lessons in Chemistry was the cast of characters surrounding Elizabeth Zott. Calvin, the man who loved who she truly was. Her daughter, Mads. Her neighbor and friend, Harriet, and Walter, her boss at the television station. Oops! I almost forgot her dog, Six Thirty, which is based on the author's dog. The story would not be complete without Six Thirty.

Speaking of the author, there's an author interview at the end of the audiobook which everyone should read after they've read the book. (It contains spoilers.) I think it brought me just as big a smile as Elizabeth and her friends and family did. 

If you're in the mood for a feel-good story, here it is. I loved every bit of it.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Narrated by Miranda Raison.

ASIN: B09BBK79VB

Random House Audio © 2022

Audiobook. 11 hours, 55 minutes.

 

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Audible.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

 

First Lines: No. Nup. That wouldn't do. It reeked of PhD. This was meant to be read by normal people.

 

Horse is based on the true story of the record-breaking Thoroughbred, Lexington.

 

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay Thoroughbred foal form a bond that will determine the course of both their lives. When the Civil War breaks out, the painter who made his name by his paintings of this racehorse joins the Union army only to reunite with the stallion and groom on a perilous night far from any racetrack.

 

New York City, 1954. Gallery owner Martha Jackson becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century painting that has a murky provenance.

 

Washington, DC, 2019.  Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian find themselves connected through their shared interest in the horse-- one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the unsung history of the Black horsemen who were critical to the horse's racing success.

~

Geraldine Brooks has done it again: written a transcendent book that is so much more than the sum of its parts. Brooks is a must-read author for me, but Horse was made even more special by my teenage racehorse madness years. I read every book I could get my hands on about Thoroughbred racing and its stars. My mother indulged my obsession: when she went to Kentucky on a genealogy trip, I got to overdose on racehorses, meeting greats like Citation and actually seeing the grave of Lexington, the horse that Brooks centered her book upon.

In Brooks' Afterword, she says, "As I began to research Lexington's life, it became clear to me that this novel could not merely be about a racehorse, it would also need to be about race," and she does this in masterful fashion. Whether it's watching the years pass and Lexington's groom being known as one owner's Jarret after another to-- finally-- having his own name untainted by slavery (Jarret Lewis) or watching the unfolding relationship between the interracial couple Jess and Theo in 2019 and the differences in their experiences and outlooks on the world, the reader becomes totally engaged in the characters' lives. 

Horse is so much more than a fascinating animal story. It is also a powerful story of art, science, and-- above all-- race. It is a story to take in deep. It is a story to remember.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

eISBN: 9780399562983

Viking © 2022

eBook, 401 pages

 

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Black Souls by Gioacchino Criaco

First Line: We walked at a clip, wresting ourselves from the damp embrace of the heather and ferns.

The remote Aspromonte Mountains in southern Calabria, Italy, is a land of abject poverty. In order to survive, most must resort to a life of crime, especially organized crime. Black Souls is the story of three best friends who at first begin to rob businesses in order to have better clothes to wear to school. Brainy Luciano, happy-go-lucky Luigi, and the nameless narrator of this tale have a taste for the life, and as time goes by, they branch out into kidnapping, contract killing, and dealing drugs.

There is a lot to learn in Black Souls: local legends, the history of peasant rebellions, myths, and colonial suffering, and everything blends into a tale about how violence begets violence that's difficult to stop reading.

From its pastoral beginning to its strong finish, I found this book weaving a bit of a spell over me. Yes, the background and history of Calabria were fascinating, but what pulled me in was the voice of the narrator. You wouldn't think a reader like me who has led a rather sheltered life would get pulled into a story about three men who were good at killing people and flooding Italy with drugs-- but I did.

It had everything to do with that narrator's voice. His is an unflinching look at the life he and his friends led. Nothing is held back. His tone is completely matter-of-fact; nothing is glorified. There's never any posturing or "Hey, Ma, look at me!" The narrator never once says that what he did was right. In fact, throughout the book, readers will get the exact opposite feeling. Black Souls was a lot more than I expected to find, and that is a very good thing. It's the type of book that will stay with me for a long time.

Black Souls by Gioacchino Criaco
Translated from the Italian by Hillary Gulley.

ISBN: 9781616959975

Soho Crime © 2019

Hardcover, 288 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A-

Source: the publisher


 

Benighted by J. B. Priestley

First Line: Margaret was saying something, but he couldn't hear a word.

J. B. Priestley was an extremely popular author in the late 1920s and the 1930s, and when someone told me about Benighted, I had to read it. I love stories about old, scary houses, and this book inspired a 1930s film, "The Old Dark House," which gave birth to a whole genre of movies.

Benighted is the tale of people stranded by a horrendous storm and flooding in a remote corner of Wales. Their place of refuge is an ancient, dark, creepy old manor house inhabited by four of the strangest people you'd never hope to meet. Little do they realize that it will be a severe test of their mental and physical fortitude just to survive the night.

Priestley excelled in his depiction of the ancient house and its inhabitants. There is a decided scare factor when reading about them that I enjoyed. Where the book fell flat for me was in the amount of time it spent inside each of the stranded characters' heads. I can see what Priestley was trying to do: the house had such an effect on these people that their attitudes began to change about what they wanted from their lives, but it was just too much-- especially since I didn't particularly like any of them in the first place. By book's end, there's also a question I'd dearly love to have answered, a question that Priestley really didn't want readers to ask.

Benighted gave me a glimpse of Priestley's talent, but it failed to hit the bulls-eye.

Benighted by J. B. Priestley

ASIN: B00BR5TS0U

Valancourt Books © 2013

Originally published 1927.

eBook, 164 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

First Line: For many years Henry Kitteridge was a pharmacist in the next town over, driving every morning on snowy roads, or rainy roads, or summertime roads, when the wild raspberries shot their new growth in brambles along the last section of town before he turned off to where the wider road led to the pharmacy.

In a series of thirteen vignettes, author Elizabeth Strout sets out to illuminate a small town in coastal Maine and one of its inhabitants, a retired schoolteacher named Olive Kitteridge.

Readers are the voyeurs in Olive Kitteridge. While we peep into the lives of a piano player in a lounge, a troubled teenage girl, and Olive's own husband and son (among others), we see people dealing with all sorts of problems... and we see that Olive is-- for the most part-- considered to be a rather unpleasant and unpredictable force of nature. But as our knowledge of the people of Crosby, Maine increases so does Olive's self-awareness. The lessons she learns are sometimes painful and always ruthlessly honest.

I loved how my understanding of the characters deepened with each new chapter. Initially seen in an unflattering light, some characters changed as the light shone upon them from different angles.

This is a little gem, although I can see some readers believing that nothing ever happens in it. I found this book to be mesmerizing and to contain one brilliant character study after another. Quiet, unassuming writing can sometimes wield great power and beauty, and this is exactly what I found in the pages of Olive Kitteridge.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

eISBN: 9781588366887

Random House © 2008

eBook, 271 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

First Line: Every seven-year-old needs a superhero.

Seven-year-old Elsa's seventy-seven-year-old grandmother is her best and only friend. At night, the little girl takes refuge in her grandmother's stories because in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, everyone is different and no one needs to be normal.

When Elsa's grandmother dies, she leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, and when Elsa begins to deliver them, her adventure begins.

Now that some time has elapsed since I read this book, I'm able to look upon it more charitably. I loved A Man Called Ove, and I think that made my expectations of this book much too high. 

The two main characters-- Elsa and her grandmother-- are characters who can tug at your heartstrings. Elsa is scary smart for a seven-year-old, and at times she's very funny. Her grandmother is known for speaking her mind and doing crazy things like standing on the balcony and shooting paintball guns at passing strangers. Even though she could be very funny, I never lost sight of the fact that the old lady would be a real pain in the neck to deal with. If I represented the middle generation between these two, I'd probably be escorted briskly (and gently) to the nearest rest home. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

What I never expected was the fact that this book very quickly became a chore to read. It needed editing and tightening (beginning with the unwieldy title) because the gradual unfolding of key elements of the plot was much, much too gradual. I almost abandoned the book several times, but I just couldn't. I had to know if life was going to be happier for Elsa. So... I found Backman's book to have a great idea that was poorly executed-- and this has made me leery of reading his next book.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

Translated from the Swedish by Henning Koch.
ISBN: 9781501115066

Atria Books © 2015

Hardcover, 384 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: D+

Source: Paperback Swap 


 

Clear to Lift by Anne A. Wilson

First Line: Agitated snow tumbles and whirls across the cockpit windshield.

Navy helicopter pilot Lt. Alison Malone is not happy. Instead of remaining on the fast track, her naval career is stalled in the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada near Fallon, Nevada. Her skills are being put to good use as part of a search and rescue team based at the Naval Air Station there, but this by-the-book pilot is being driven crazy by the men with whom she works. To men like Boomer Marks, the rule book is more like a guideline... a suggestion. Alison desperately wants to be transferred out of this backwater and back to her meticulously chosen life and fiancé in San Diego.

When Alison meets mountain guide Will Cavanaugh on a particularly risky mission, she is introduced to a world of adventure she's never known before, and those almighty defenses of hers begin to slip. It's not long until Alison is questioning everything she's ever known about herself. She's definitely got some tough life decisions ahead of her.

If this book sounds more like women's fiction, if it sounds more like romance, than the books I usually read, you'd be right. However, I read and enjoyed Wilson's first book, Hover, so much that I definitely wanted to give this one a try. I am very glad that I did. The one thing that annoyed me in that first book was the romantic element, but here in Clear to Lift, Wilson has pulled back on the stick just enough to make Alison and Will's budding relationship perfect. In fact, if most men were honest, they'd admit that this is a book they could enjoy, too. After all, Wilson flew nine years as a navy helicopter pilot. She knows what she's talking about.

The characterization of Alison Malone comes close to perfection. This is a young woman who-- due to her father abandoning the family when she was a child-- has learned to always hedge her bets, to always make the safe choice, to always follow the rules. Being assigned to Fallon's search and rescue team is the one thing she needs to start pulling herself out of that veritable cocoon of security blankets. Watching this sometimes painful process (and getting to know the rest of a fine cast of characters) makes for engrossing reading, but Wilson does not stop there. Oh no....

This author is one of the best writers of action sequences I've ever read. Wilson puts the reader in control of a helicopter during the delicate operation of saving a person's life. Then-- when the reader is still glancing nervously at the fuel gauge and altimeter-- Alison's own life is in danger when she's caught in the mountains during a blizzard. Another entire sequence concerning a flood is also wonderfully written. Wilson knows exactly how to place readers right in the middle of the action, and I for one found my heart in my throat or tears in my eyes on multiple occasions. It reminds me of how few writers lately can get me that invested-- mind and heart-- in a story. Anne A. Wilson has that gift, and you'd better believe I'm eagerly awaiting book number three.
     

Clear to Lift by Anne A. Wilson

ISBN: 9780765378514

Forge Books © 2016

Hardcover, 320 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: the author


 

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable

First Line: She only wanted to get out of town.


April Vogt's boss at Sotheby's makes her day. When he tells his continental furniture expert about an apartment in Paris's ninth arrondissement that has been discovered after having been untouched for seventy years, April can't wait to get over there to take a look at the treasures the apartment may contain. It also helps that she needs distance from her philandering husband.

Once in Paris, April quickly learns that the apartment is a gold mine; not only for its furniture and other priceless objects, but for the letters and journals she finds that were written by the very same woman in the breathtaking (and previously unknown) Boldini portrait in the salon. Soon April's days are filled with furniture appraisals and reading about the life of one of Paris's celebrated Belle Epoque courtesans. The more she learns about the courtesan's life, the more she examines her own life-- until she realizes she must stop ignoring her problems if she wants her own happy ending.

I'd been following news articles about an apartment in Paris that had been discovered only after the rent stopped being paid. When the doors to the residence were opened, it was learned that these rooms had been untouched for seventy years-- and were a veritable treasure trove of antiques and ephemera (like the dozens and dozens of calling cards that the author used to put together a sort of cast of characters for this book). When I learned that Michelle Gable had written a book using this very same apartment at its heart, I couldn't wait to read it.

The segments describing many of the items found in the apartment sparkled and made me feel as though I were present at some wonderful archaeological discovery. Equally strong was the story line involving the courtesan who owned the apartment and wrote the letters and journals found by the appraiser. Marthe de Florian is a fully fleshed figure, one that a reader can empathize with and even condemn on occasion.

The story line that really didn't hold up its end was the modern one of April Vogt. She's pursued by a Parisian lawyer while doing her best to avoid her husband, who once cheated on her. Granted, there's not much new and exciting in a tale like that, but I didn't mind it. What I did mind was April's character. She has every appearance of traveling through her life with blinders on... as though she believes there's only one side to every story. Her willful blindness soon began to annoy me, which meant that I took respite in Marthe de Florian's story. And how wonderful it is that there's so much more to this book than April!

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable

ISBN: 9781250048738
Thomas Dunne Books © 2014
Hardcover, 384 pages

Fiction, Standalone
Rating: B
Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen 

The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee

First Line: Maura Beth Mayhew shut her sky blue eyes and let the unsettling words that had just been thrown her way sink in for a few tense moments.

The library in Cherico, Mississippi, isn't going to win any design awards. It's tiny, has corrugated iron siding, and no parking lot, but for the past six years, it has been librarian Maura Beth Mayhew's pride and joy. When City Council members tell Maura Beth that the library will be closed down, she fights back until she's given a grace period. She has to boost library circulation dramatically, or she'll be looking for another job-- and Cherico's citizens will have to travel a distance to get their reading materials. It's not until the Cherry Cola Book Club is founded that Maura Beth has something to smile about.

This book is filled with Southern charm and warmth, and scenes of people getting together over good food to talk books and get folks using the library warm the cockles of my heart, but I have to admit that I could never completely believe the premise of this book-- and it's got everything to do with my childhood. I grew up in a small village in central Illinois. My mother took over as librarian of a neglected, seldom-used building of out-dated books and a floor that was held up by huge jacks in the basement. With a tiny budget, it was my mother's job to increase circulation and make that library something of which to be proud. She did. By the time she left, our village library had over twice the circulation of the library in the much larger county seat.

Why does this prevent me from falling hook, line, and sinker for this book? Because Maura Beth has been the librarian in Cherico for six years, and during that time it seems that all she's done is ask for a parking lot and computers. One of her assistants states that there are plenty of days that no one at all comes in the library-- and Maura Beth is shocked when the City Council starts thinking of closing the place down? It's only when she has that "gun" of closing held to her head that she finally rolls up her sleeves and starts doing her job.

Don't get me wrong: there's a lot to like in this book, and there are good tips for anyone who's wanting to increase their library traffic. But my own memories of all the work my mother put into the library in our village prevents me from giving this book a whole-hearted recommendation. Loving books and libraries as I do, this makes me feel a tad guilty.

The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee

ISBN: 9780758273413

Kensington © 2013

Paperback, 272 pages

Fiction, #1 Cherry Cola Book Club

Rating: C

Source: Purchased from Amazon as an eBook. 

A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert

First Line: With an audible sigh, Rose Lane rolled the letter out of her Underwood typewriter and signed it  --Much love as always, Rose.

In 1928, Rose Wilder Lane packed her belongings and left Albania-- a place she loved-- to return to the Missouri Ozarks to check on her aging parents. Her father, Almanzo Wilder, was 71; her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, was 61. They needed help, and Rose felt obligated to stay and get things straightened out. But when the Crash occurred Rose's investments were wiped out, and there was no longer much money to be made writing magazine articles. This was when her mother Laura started writing about her pioneer childhood, and a collaboration was formed that has bewitched thousands upon thousands of readers to this day.

A Wilder Rose is written from Rose's point of view. She's a world traveler, a journalist, and a highly paid writer for all the best magazines of the day. Growing up poor, always having to "make do," being ridiculed at school-- all this and more made Rose want to be more, to do more, and she did. When she returns to the Ozarks and becomes trapped by lack of money, her pain is palpable as she tries desperately to gather up the funds needed for both her parents and herself to have the lives they deserve.

I can see some readers not liking this book because Albert doesn't write the fairy tale that they have grown to love. Laura isn't the adorable little Half Pint in this book; she's an older woman who's experienced many hardships and heartbreaks, and she's much more real as a result. Laura Ingalls Wilder was not an easy woman to live with, and the stories she wrote about her childhood were far from being publishable. Rose was the true writer in the family, and she knew what needed to be done to a manuscript to make it marketable. Countless battles of will occurred with the birth of each of the Little House books, and the entire process is fascinating to read.

Albert also does a masterful job of portraying the period itself: how the stock market crash affected people, what life was like during the Dust Bowl. The political and social conflicts of the time come to life. I was amazed at how similar those conflicts are to the ones we are experiencing today.

Susan Wittig Albert walks a fine line in A Wilder Rose, and she does it very successfully. While the Laura presented here isn't the lovable little tyke of the books so many people like me grew up reading and loving, the portrait of the older Laura is a realistic and utterly believable one. However, the author shines at letting us see the real Rose Wilder Lane and hear her voice. Rose's story is one that forcibly struck home with me. It was expected that Rose would give up her life, give up the person she was, give up so many of the things she loved to do, to go home and take care of her parents as their health declined. The exact same thing was expected of me when my beloved grandfather's health declined. I understood her love for her parents, her feelings of guilt and of being ripped in two.

A Wilder Rose succeeds beautifully on so many levels: as a social history of the times, as the story of the collaboration of two dissimilar women to create one of the most beloved series of books in America, and as the story of a woman trying to uphold her familial obligations while being true to herself. It's a book that I found hard to put down, and it's a book that's made me see that Rose Wilder Lane deserves to be given credit for all the work she did in creating those little houses.

A Wilder Rose: Rose Wilder Lane, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Their Little Houses 

by Susan Wittig Albert

ISBN: 9780989203500

Persevero Press © 2013

Paperback, 288 pages

Rating: A

Source: the author

The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas

First Line: "What does it mean when someone calls you swine?" Simon Horowitz asked suddenly, as his father's black Mercedes-Benz rolled to a stop at the top of a blind alley off the Friedrichstrasse.

Simon is about to find out exactly what that means, as his world rapidly descends into nightmare. Instead of learning to play his father's priceless and beloved 1742 Guarneri del Gesú violin, he and other members of his family are sent to Dachau, and the precious violin finds its way into other hands.

In the present day, a fourteen-year-old violin prodigy has a chance to make a name for himself on the world stage, and renowned conductor Rafael Gomez wants to help young Daniel Horowitz realize the dream. When Daniel rebels and refuses to play, Gomez is determined to do whatever it takes to make the boy play again. When the conductor learns that Daniel's family once owned an incredible violin, he thinks he has the answer: the story of what happened to the Horowitz family and their Guarneri del Gesú violin.

Although I've never been a real fan of the violin, I do enjoy stories about a house or an object that has survived through the centuries passing through various owners. The Keeper of Secrets is a welcome addition to this literary tradition.

The cast of characters is an interesting one. Simon Horowitz and his family react too slowly for most to survive the Holocaust. Simon has the character, the intelligence and the strength of will to do so, and he must use all of that in order to walk out of the infamous concentration camp known as Dachau. Daniel Horowitz, who has a once-in-a-lifetime talent, wants to be an ordinary boy who plays baseball with his friends. Daniel's mother is a woman who insists everything be sacrificed to Daniel's talent. The boy's father is a man who's torn between wanting his son to have a normal childhood and wanting his son to use his gift to its full potential. Rafael Gomez  is a man whose love of music has ruled his life, and he wants Daniel to be a sort of gift to the profession he loves.

All these characters blend together very well within the author's framework. Germany in the 1930s came to life as I read; the burgeoning power of the Nazis, the people who saw what was happening and got out, those who refused to see and stayed. Two elements in particular impressed me. One was the inclusion of various German characters who helped those being persecuted in whatever ways they could. The second was the fact that the chapters of the book involving Simon's internment in Dachau were horrible without being graphic. Thomas didn't candy coat anything, but she didn't feel the need to bury readers in the details of all the atrocities.

Perhaps music was the most profound element of The Keeper of Secrets, and I'm not just talking about learning the business aspects behind world-class orchestras. I've never read another book that made me feel even the tiniest bit like a gifted musician would feel as he played, what a piece of music can tell him, and how different instruments playing the same piece of music can sound differently. Somehow Thomas managed to convey all that and more.

The power of good characterization, of a good story, and of music combined to make Julie Thomas's book a virtuoso performance.

The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas

ISBN: 9780062240309

William Morrow © 2013

Paperback, 384 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A

Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers program 

The Girl of the Sea of Cortez by Peter Benchley

First Line: The girl lay on the surface of the sea, looking into the water through a mask, and was afraid.

Peter Benchley is best known for his book Jaws and the subsequent Steven Spielberg movie, but it is The Girl of the Sea of Cortez (published in 1982) that is his most heartfelt book about man's relationship with the sea.

Paloma is a young woman who lives with her mother and brother on an island in the Gulf of California. Her father had a deep and abiding love of, and respect for, the sea. After trying and failing to share his passion with his son, he learns that it is his daughter, Paloma, who will be the one to understand the lessons he teaches. Not only does Paloma take all his lessons to heart, she also seems to have an innate sense that the sea and all its creatures need her protection.

Each day Paloma paddles her tiny pirogue out to a secret destination where she anchors above a seamount-- a submerged volcanic peak-- that is home to a spectacular abundance of marine life-- and it is there that she forms an incredible bond with a manta ray so large that it blocks the sun. Paloma is willing to fight to protect this creature and this bond, for there is something every bit as certain as the sun rising and setting and the ebb and flow of the tides: man's greed. Paloma will have to fight with every ounce of courage and knowledge she has to protect her beloved seamount and the thousands of animals that call it home.

My mother read this book when it was first published in 1982. Almost as if it were yesterday, I can hear her telling me that she thought of me as she read about Paloma. My mother could see me exploring the seamount and swimming with manta rays. For some reason, I never picked up the book to read it. I don't know why. Just as I don't know why I felt compelled to read it now, thirty-one years later.

My salt water swimming pool was the perfect place to read this book. As the pages turned, I found myself nodding my head in agreement with Paloma's father and the lessons he taught her. Jobim taught her many practical things about swimming, diving, the weather, the sea, the marine life, and how to respect them all. He didn't have to teach her to love it; that came naturally. Jobim believed, as I do, that "Nature is one miracle after another. Man can't improve it; he can only change it."  

The Girl of the Sea of Cortez is a beautiful fable, and as I read it, I turned into Princess Paloma. I seldom ever find myself so completely identifying with a character, and when it does happen, it's very special. Paloma's skill was my skill; her wonderment at the beauty of the sea and its creatures was mine; her determination to protect the seamount was mine. This entire book is a song, a poem, and Benchley's love of the sea is evident on each and every page.

This isn't a review as much as it is a sharing my personal reaction to this book, and one thing that occurred to me after I'd finished reading it and was still basking in the afterglow was the similarities my favorite movie ("Avatar") shares with this book. I can understand why The Girl of the Sea of Cortez is a cult classic, and methinks it is a favorite of director James Cameron, too.

Mom, it took me thirty-one years to understand fully why you thought of me when you read this book. Thank you for the compliment.

The Girl of the Sea of Cortez by Peter Benchley

ISBN: 9780345544131

Ballantine Books © 2013

Paperback, 256 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A

Source: Paperback Swap 

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

First Line: It is summer and luminous.

When you're in your eighties and a widower, the last thing you want to do is to move from your home in New York City to a new place with your granddaughter and her Norwegian husband in Oslo, Norway. But as Sheldon Horowitz knows, sometimes the last thing you want to do is the only thing you can do. He's lonely and wants to be with his granddaughter. His granddaughter has seen signs of dementia in her beloved grandfather and wants to keep him close to her.

What neither one of them could possibly predict is an act of incredible violence that leaves a little motherless boy in old Sheldon Horowitz's care. Now the old man and the little boy are on the run from everyone who's chasing them, and we can only pray that the killer isn't the one who finds this odd pair first.

This is a book that defies categorization. It's part thriller, part police procedural, part road trip, part commentary on aging/relationships/dementia-- and it has flashes of comedy throughout. When I began reading this book, I was worried about Korean War veteran Sheldon Horowitz because I was remembering when my own grandfather lived with me. By the time I finished reading Norwegian By Night, I had a big smile on my face and wished that we could all be as demented as Derek B. Miller's main character.

This is a book that has so much to say-- and it manages to say everything in a rather concise manner. What this debut novelist says in 300 pages, most other writers would take at least twice the space. Miller never lets his foot off the gas-- this tale moves swiftly and surely from beginning to end. If you're the type of reader who wants a fast-paced book that starts at Point A and leads directly to Point B, you might want to give Norwegian By Night a miss. From time to time, the narrative wanders off onto dark alleys and narrow country lanes, as Sheldon visits the Korean and Vietnam Wars, memories of his wife and son... and as we learn a bit about the background of the silent little boy Sheldon is trying to keep safe. These diversions add a richness to the story that it cannot live without; they are the life's blood of Miller's characters. It takes an incredible amount of skill to be able to introduce these flashbacks and themes and not have them slow down the pace of the story, and Miller accomplishes it with ease.

The element of the chase keeps the story's pace flowing quickly, while those diversions add dimension to both characterization and to the themes of aging and regret that run throughout the book.  And when the action gets too scary or one of the themes gets too dark, Sheldon Horowitz is there to say or do something that will make us laugh.

This book fed my mind on so many levels! It's been a long time since I've finished a book with such a huge smile on my face, wanting to invite a character home to live with me. Should we all be as crazy as Sheldon!

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

ISBN: 9780547934877

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt © 2013

Hardcover, 304 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Amazon Vine

11-22-63 by Stephen King

First Line: I have never been what you'd call a crying man.

That's what high school English teacher Jake Epping will tell you, if you were to ask. But while grading essays, he's blown away by what GED student and janitor Harry Dunning has written. Somehow, some way, fifty years ago Harry survived his father's sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is still thinking how life can turn on a dime when he learns of an even more bizarre secret: Al, owner of the local diner and Jake's friend, wants Jake to take over his obsession. Many years ago Al discovered a time portal in the diner's storeroom, and he's been trying ever since to prevent the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Jake allows himself to be persuaded, and when he steps through the portal, he finds himself in the era of Elvis, cheap gasoline, and almost universal cigarette smoking. Jake has plenty of time to start a new life in small town Texas, but each day draws him nearer to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. Will he be able to accomplish what Al tried and failed to do? And if he does stop the assassination of the president, what sort of consequences will there be?

I have to admit that I held off reading this book for a long time. I was in third grade when JFK was assassinated. Yes, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news. For reasons that don't need to go into a book review, this event hit my mother and I hard, and I was reluctant to rip the Band-aid off that particular wound, even if it had healed long ago.

I should not have worried, and I should not have waited. This book has very little to do with JFK and everything to do with Jake Epping. Stephen King's main character takes us all on a nostalgic yet honest journey through America during the end of the Eisenhower administration. Everything is brought to life in vivid and loving detail. I enjoyed reliving the era of my childhood, but as I read, I found myself thinking more about recent American history, its might-have-beens... and about love.

Few writers can immerse me in their fictional worlds so completely as does Stephen King. No matter how strange, King creates characters and backdrops that are familiar and that I can trust-- which is a very good thing because I need someone/something trustworthy at my back while I'm reading to figure out how to escape his weirdness!

If you've been postponing reading this book for the same reasons I did, you can stop. When you read 11-22-63, you're going to read a lot more about love than you will about bullets and lone gunmen.

11-22-63 by Stephen King

ISBN: 9781451627282

Scribner © 2011

Hardcover, 864 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased at Barnes and Noble

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

First Line: Rural England, a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, a summer's day at the start of the nineteen sixties.

Of course most teenage girls would think any farmhouse in the country is the middle of nowhere, and sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson is no exception. Playing hooky from a sibling's birthday party, she's daydreaming of her future up in the tree house. A little later she sees a strange man walking up the road to the house where he speaks to Laurel's mother.

Fifty years later, Laurel is an award-winning actress who's gathered with her sisters at the family farm to celebrate their mother's ninetieth birthday. Their mother has always been beautiful, vivacious, loving, almost perfect in her children's eyes, but her health is fading quickly. Laurel realizes that she's had questions about that long ago day when she saw the stranger walking up the road-- and she's running out of time to get the answers she wants because the information Laurel needs can only be found in her mother's past.

Dorothy Nicolson's memory seems as fragile as her health, but even on her good days, she's unwilling to part with any information. Laurel must dig for clues, check records, and talk to Dorothy's contemporaries. Reliving her mother's life as a paid companion in London during the Blitz, Laurel slowly begins to put the pieces together and discovers the stunning truth.

I have read and enjoyed all of Kate Morton's books; each one is better than the last. In her latest, there are many secret keepers-- it seems as though each character has something to hide. The narrative moves between present-day England where Laurel searches into her mother's past, and London during the 1940s where as a young girl her mother tries to survive despite endless shortages and nightly bombing raids. Laurel soon finds that her mother's story is entwined with those of two others: rich, beautiful Vivien married to a successful novelist, and handsome war photographer Jimmy.

Morton is masterful at revealing facts in increments-- clues a tiny nugget at a time. While the reader may get the impression that the characters' feelings, histories and motivations are becoming clearer with each chapter, are they? Really? Or is the reader merely seeing what Morton wishes them to see? Morton's talent is that she does both at the same time.

One thing that Morton does wish the reader to see is that each decision made by Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy has its consequences, and that each decision may not have been the right one. As each character comes under closer scrutiny, the reader's loyalties may shift from one to the other until the very end where all is revealed.

Did I place any of the puzzle pieces in the proper positions? A few, but not many. I've learned in reading Kate Morton's books that it's best to pretend I'm going whitewater rafting. There are quiet pools, strong currents, electrifying rapids, and a sense of near euphoria by story's end. Do what I did: sit back and enjoy a wonderful ride filled with vivid, memorable characters.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

ISBN: 9781439152805

Atria Books © 2012

Hardcover, 496 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: the publisher

Big Maria by Johnny Shaw

First Line: It didn't take much imagination to guess what the other kids had called Harry Schmittberger when he was a boy.

Harry Schmittberger has gotten the short end of the stick all his life. He's convinced that his name started that whole bad luck ball rolling. Frank Pacheco is Native American, old, and has cancer, but he feels that he has one more fight left in him. Ricky McBride is young, strong, and not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. All he wants is to give his beloved wife and young daughter a good life.

Calamity refuses to leave these three men alone, and they find themselves washed ashore on a desert island called No Hope. But they refuse to give up, and these three men who really have nothing in common find themselves becoming friends... and formulating a plan to bring much-deserved happiness and prosperity to them all. You see, there's a fabulous gold mine lost for over a hundred years in the Chocolate Mountains of Arizona. Sure it's right in the middle of the largest military artillery range in the world, but that shouldn't stop these three men from their objective-- should it?

This book is not for the easily offended or those who prefer not to read about people who inhabit the bottom rungs of society. But for readers who can look past the profanity, violence, and frequent mentions of various bodily fluids, there is a terrific tale of friendship to be found. Of the three main characters, I found Harry to be the hardest to digest, but even he managed to work his way past my defenses. Frank's two marijuana-growing grandsons and his daughter (who scares the spit out of everyone she meets) are excellent additions to Shaw's cast of characters.

Big Maria has a very cinematic quality to it, which isn't that unusual since the author is a playwright and screenwriter. The entire book flows smoothly, each scene vivid in my mind. Referring to a book as "cinematic" can sometimes be pejorative to me, meaning that the author really wants to turn it into a movie as quickly as possible. That's not true of this book. This is a well-crafted tale that really makes me care about what happens to Harry, Frank and Ricky. I want these three losers to have a Happily Ever After as I laugh, wince, shake my head, get teary-eyed, and laugh some more all through their misbegotten caper.

Johnny Shaw's novel may take you a bit outside your comfort zone, but the results can be very rewarding indeed.

Big Maria by Johnny Shaw

ISBN: 9781612184395

Thomas and Mercer © 2012

Paperback, 332 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Amazon Vine

Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson

First Line: The county that stretches from Melbourne in the south to Sydney seven hundred and fifty miles up the coast is green with trees and paddocks.

If you're the type of reader who pays attention to the dedication page, once you've read the dedication in Albert of Adelaide, you'll know you're in for something a little different:

"It seems fitting to dedicate this book to an Australian soldier I met at a bar many years ago in Sydney. All I can remember about him was that he had a bad bayonet scar from service in Malaya and that he got me hopelessly lost on the New South Wales rail system before he passed out."

Albert is a platypus who was orphaned and brought to the Adelaide Zoo at a very young age. He's grown up remembering his childhood and listening to the tales of other zoo inhabitants about the "Old Australia," a place far away in the desert where nothing's changed since the beginning-- a place that's filled with freedom and peace for all animals. Tired of being stared at, laughed at, and called names, Albert begins hoarding grubs and filling a discarded soda bottle with water. One day someone's careless, and Albert makes his break for freedom, riding the rails as far as he can, until he finds himself lost in the desert. Undaunted, Albert trudges on, holding on to his dream of a place where he belongs.

What he finds is a bit more than he expected (and the reader, too, for that matter).  Jack the wombat saves Albert, and it's not until they spend the night drinking and gambling in the mining town of Ponsby Station that Albert learns Jack is just a little too fond of matches. Accused of burning down the mercantile, the two run for their lives and split up as they enter dingo territory.

Albert goes on to make the acquaintance of a pair of drunken bandicoots, a militia of kangaroos, packs of dingoes, a former prize-fighting Tasmanian devil, and a raccoon straight off the boat from California. Every step of the way, Albert discovers that his "road less traveled" and the companions he finds are actually putting him on the path to finding out who he truly is.

I was entranced by this book. When I met the author in July, he said that the genesis of Albert of Adelaide began more than twenty years ago when he began telling bedtime stories to his then-girlfriend's five-year-old daughter. He didn't want these bedtime stories to be run-of-the-mill stuff, and I would've loved to have listened in. As it is, I fell in love with Albert, his journey, and the friends that he made. I don't listen to audio books, but I think that it would be the perfect format for this book. You're never too old-- or too young-- to hear Albert's story of adventure, friendship and self-realization.

Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson

ISBN: 9781455509621

Twelve  ©2012

Hardcover, 240 pages

Fiction

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.