February 27, 2025

The Distance Between Us

 


The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell
Fiction
2004
Finished on February 26, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Gripping, insightful, and deft, The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell is a haunting story of the way our families shape our lives, from the award-winning author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait.

On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn't seen for many years, but instantly recognises. Or thinks she does. At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revellers, Jake realises that things are becoming dangerous.

They know nothing of one another's existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives: Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn't appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand.

Once again, Maggie O'Farrell has held me enthralled with yet another creative, if not topsy-turvy novel about the ties that bind one's family and how we never really escape our pasts. As with her other books (except for Hamnet), O'Farrell's structure is non-linear and she employs multiple POVs, juggling all narratives with great skill. Having read her debut novel (After You'd Gone) last month, I was prepared for this format and didn't find The Distance Between Us difficult to follow, enjoying it better than that earlier novel. I'm excited to read The Hand That First Held Mine, which is next in line for my "Year of Reading Maggie O'Farrell" challenge. 

February 22, 2025

Abide with Me

 


Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout
Fiction
2006
Finished on February 21, 2025
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In her luminous and long-awaited new novel, bestselling author Elizabeth Strout welcomes readers back to the archetypal, lovely landscape of northern New England, where the events of her first novel, Amy and Isabelle, unfolded. In the late 1950s, in the small town of West Annett, Maine, a minister struggles to regain his calling, his family, and his happiness in the wake of profound loss. At the same time, the community he has served so charismatically must come to terms with its own strengths and failings–faith and hypocrisy, loyalty and abandonment–when a dark secret is revealed.

Tyler Caskey has come to love West Annett, “just up the road” from where he was born. The short, brilliant summers and the sharp, piercing winters fill him with awe–as does his congregation, full of good people who seek his guidance and listen earnestly as he preaches. But after suffering a terrible loss, Tyler finds it hard to return to himself as he once was. He hasn’t had The Feeling–that God is all around him, in the beauty of the world–for quite some time. He struggles to find the right words in his sermons and in his conversations with those facing crises of their own, and to bring his five-year-old daughter, Katherine, out of the silence she has observed in the wake of the family’s tragedy.

A congregation that had once been patient and kind during Tyler’s grief now questions his leadership and propriety. In the kitchens, classrooms, offices, and stores of the village, anger and gossip have started to swirl. And in Tyler’s darkest hour, a startling discovery will test his congregation’s humanity–and his own will to endure the kinds of trials that sooner or later test us all.

In prose incandescent and artful, Elizabeth Strout draws readers into the details of ordinary life in a way that makes it extraordinary. All is considered–life, love, God, and community–within these pages, and all is made new by this writer’s boundless compassion and graceful prose.

Over the years, I've read several of Elizabeth Strout's novels, but somehow missed this one when it came out nearly two decades ago. In an effort to read through Strout's books in order of publication, I was eager to get this one at the library, going in cold, ignoring the publisher's blurb, as is my habit. As I've learned from reading more recent works by Strout, her characters lean toward the eccentric and outspoken, and Abide with Me is no different, full of colorful (and not always likeable) characters. This quiet story is beautifully rendered, but it's as bleak as its winter setting. I was tempted to stop halfway through as I read more and more about the unkind, gossipy community, but continued, anxious for little Katherine, as well as her father. The ending was satisfactory, but getting there was rough going. Unless you share my determination to read all Strout's works, I would say this is one to skip. Having said that, Abide with Me would make for a good book group selection as there is plenty to discuss.

February 18, 2025

All the Colors of the Dark

 


All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Fiction
2024
Finished on February 17, 2025
Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, All the Colors of the Dark is about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.

Brilliant novel! I couldn't read this one fast enough, but didn't want it to end, even after being close to 600 pages in length. The short chapters make for a propulsive reading experience, and the last 100 pages intensified the pace, revealing multiple twists and surprises that made it easy for me to continue reading well past midnight. 

I read and loved We Begin at the End, and Whitaker's new novel is as good, if not better! I'm tempted to read it again (maybe on audio, which I hear is outstanding) to see how it unfolds now that I know all the secrets, none of which I once suspected. Not only is this a great coming-of-age novel and a thrilling mystery, but the writing is beyond measure. I love the author's use of language, pausing to re-read his lyrical passages, envisioning the scenes and characters he so deftly creates with his imagery. (His acknowledgments are also a joy to read.) Patch and Saint, as well as Norma, Chief Nix, and Sammy are so well rendered, and they all worked their way into my heart. I do love a feisty, young protagonist like Saint!

Chris Whitaker is a masterful storyteller, and the intricate layers of this tale are superbly conveyed. Highly recommend, entirely and absolutely!

February 12, 2025

The Stolen Child

 


The Stolen Child by Ann Hood
Fiction
2024
Finished on February 10, 2025
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands—and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal, and the lives they’ve left behind.

With characteristic warmth and verve, Ann Hood captures a world of possibility and romance through the eyes of a young woman learning to claim her place in it. The Stolen Child is an engaging, timeless novel of secrets, love lost and found, and the nature of forgiveness.

Having read several books (both fiction and nonfiction) by Ann Hood, I was happy to see a copy of her most recent publication on the new release shelf at my public library. The cover art is lovely, the historical references to World War I intriguing, and the setting (both in France and Italy) enticing, so I didn't hesitate to bring it home with me. I wish I could say that this is a great novel, but it lacked the depth and literary quality that I was hoping for. I struggled with the three nonlinear timelines (which at times were abrupt, pulling me out of the story), and grew impatient with the drawn-out search by Jenny and Nick. The rich details of both France and Italy kept me from giving up on the novel, but I'm guilty of looking ahead to see how many pages remained before I could start something new. 

I loved Hood's Morningstar: Growing Up with Books (memoir), as well as Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food (another memoir). The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle are two of her novels that I also enjoyed a lot. The Stolen Child isn't one I need to own or will read again, but for those who are looking for a lighter read during these stressful times, this book may be just the ticket.

February 9, 2025

The Sequel

 


The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Book Series #2
Mystery/Thriller
2024
Finished on February 7, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

(Spoiler Alert - Don't read this publisher's blurb if you haven't read The Plot)

Anna Williams-Bonner has taken care of business. That is to say, she’s taken care of her husband, bestselling novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, and laid to rest those anonymous accusations of plagiarism that so tormented him. Now she is living the contented life of a literary widow, enjoying her husband’s royalty checks in perpetuity, but for the second time in her life, a work of fiction intercedes, and this time it’s her own debut novel, The Afterword. After all, how hard can it really be to write a universally lauded bestseller?

But when Anna publishes her book and indulges in her own literary acclaim, she begins to receive excerpts of a novel she never expected to see again, a novel that should no longer exist. Something has gone very wrong, and someone out there knows far too much: about her late brother, her late husband, and just possibly... Anna, herself. What does this person want and what are they prepared to do? She has come too far, and worked too hard, to lose what she values most: the sole and uncontested right to her own story. And she is, by any standard, a master storyteller.

With her signature wit and sardonic humor, Jean Hanff Korelitz gives readers an antihero to root for while illuminating and satirizing the world of publishing in this deliciously fun and suspenseful read.

I don't have any trips planned that involve flying, but if I did The Sequel would be the perfect book to read while confined inside an airplane. I was immediately drawn into this sequel to Jean Hanff Korelitz's previous book, The Plot, and the pages practically turned themselves. I only wish that I had read both books back-to-back. While Korelitz provides details to the backstory of her original work, I had to stop and think about that timeline and the details in that novel as I worked to untangle Anna's meticulously woven web of deceit and guile. Korelitz kept me guessing, taking me down multiple paths that I was certain would lead to the big reveal (I even grew suspicious of Anna's editor!). The ending is well-executed; no plot holes in this one! If pressed, I'd have to say that I enjoyed The Plot a tad bit more than The Sequel, but they are both very entertaining (and would make a great TV series).

Fun feature: Korelitz cleverly assigns the title of a real sequel to each chapter. 

The Sequel is most assuredly not a stand-alone. Highly recommend after you have read The Plot

February 6, 2025

Iron Lake

 


Cork O'Connor #1
Mystery
1998
Finished on February 3, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota (population 3,752). Embittered over losing his job as a cop and over the marital meltdown that has separated him from his wife and children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, there's not much that can shock him. But when a powerful local politician is brutally murdered the same night a young Indian boy goes missing, Cork takes on a harrowing case of corruption, conspiracy, and scandal.

As a blizzard buries Aurora and an old medicine man warns of the arrival of a blood-thirsty mythic beast called the Windigo, Cork must dig for answers hard and fast before more people, among them those he loves, will die.

It was 2014 when I read my first book by William Kent Krueger. Ordinary Grace came highly recommended by a coworker and as luck would have it, the author came to our Barnes & Noble for a book talk and signing.


Yes, I had my own endcap for many years.

I loved Krueger's stand-alone novel Ordinary Grace (you can read my review here) and quickly went on to read Iron Lake (reviewed here), the first in his Cork O'Connor series. I've since read This Tender Land and The River We Remember, but have not yet returned to his mystery series. With two of his most recent installments (Lightning Strike and Fox Creek) on my shelves, I decided it was finally time to spend the next couple of years catching up on the series.

Just as the first time I read it, Iron Lake took me several chapters before I stopped questioning my decision to read it again. By the halfway mark, I was invested in the story, and as the final chapters drew near, I couldn't stop reading, the story was so intense! I stayed up far too late, but it was a good distraction from the current news coming out of Washington, DC. I'd forgotten most of the plot, but remembered one key event, so I wasn't nearly as shocked as I was when I read the book in 2014. I'm excited to get a copy of Boundary Waters and return to Cork and the Minnesota wilderness, but I'm also tempted to re-read Ordinary Grace.

February 3, 2025

A Month in Summary - January 2025

Little Whale Cove
Depoe Bay, Oregon
January 2025


What a month. All I can say (and it sounds terribly weak and trivial) is thank goodness for the beauty of nature and books. As much as I try to stay informed, there is only so much that I can take of the current news. For many, life hasn't changed much since January 20th, but for so many others, this country is unrecognizable and a scary place to live. My heart goes out to those who are living in fear, have lost their jobs (or homes), and to those who are worried about how they will survive in this cruel new place we call The United States. 

When life gets difficult, I'm so thankful for my books. I had an exceptionally good month of reading and am excited to continue my personal challenge to read all of Maggie O'Farrell and Elizabeth Strout's books this year. I'm also reading C.J. Box and William Kent Kreuger's mystery series. I'm also focusing on the books in my stacks, but wound up with quite a few that I found at the library. Definitely want to keep supporting my local library!



Books Read (click on the title for my review):

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake (5/5)

Open Season by C.J. Box (4/5)

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten (4/5) 

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (4.5/5) - reread for book club

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (4/5)

After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell (4/5)

Naked Prey by John Sandford (4.5/5)

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (4.5/5) - reread

James by Percival Everett (4/5)


Movies & TV Series:
 

Shrinking (Season 2) - I was so sad when I reached the end of this season. The Thanksgiving episode really tugged at my heartstrings.


Bad Sisters (Season 2) - Bravo! I loved this show. The second season was just as good as the first. I laughed out loud a lot!


The Diplomat (Season 2) - Wow! What a great show. The last episode is quite a cliffhanger. I hope it isn't too long before Season 3 is released.


This Is Us (Season 6) - Finally got back to this show. Yes, it's sappy but I still enjoyed it. It's probably the most non-linear show in history! The Alzheimer's storyline was hard to watch.

In other news, I've become addicted to watching All About Birds' live cam in Ontario, Canada. I started watching the Cornell Lab cam, but switched to Canada's since I'm curious about the bird activity in their colder temps. 




In life married to an author, my husband had a wonderful book talk at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria (Oregon) last week. It's a marvelous facility with an outstanding staff. We were very pleased with the turnout; there were close to 60 attendees, so lots of great questions after Rod's presentation. Next stop, Third Place Books in Seattle (Lake Forest Park location) on March 31st. If you live in the area, we'd love to see you!

  
Update: I composed this post before the horrific news of the DC plane and helicopter crash on Thursday. My heart breaks for the family and friends of those lost souls. Take care of yourselves, friends.


February 1, 2025

James

 


Fiction
2024
Finished on January 28, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and ferociously funny—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

I can't remember if I have read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (or for that matter, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) or if the story is familiar from seeing illustrations and reading snippets about the book over the years. There are certainly several film versions, but none that I recognize that spark a memory of having seen them. My book group voted to read James, and I was eager to get a copy since I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Percival Everett's award-winning novel. I enjoyed the story, which is very readable and moves quickly, but it fell short of my expectations, perhaps due to the hype since its publication. Everett's powerful re-telling of Mark Twain's classic is impressive and enlightening, particularly that of Jim's "slave talk" which is used in the presence of white people. Jim gives language lessons in order for others to live safely in a racist world.
“But what are you going to say when she asks you about it?” I asked.
Lizzie cleared her throat. “Miss Watson, dat some cone-bread lak I neva before et.”
“Try ‘dat be,’” I said. “That would be the correct incorrect grammar.”

and

“White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,” I said. “The only ones who suffer when they are made to feel inferior is us. Perhaps I should say ‘when they don’t feel superior.’”
I'm looking forward to the book discussion, curious to hear if others feel more enthusiastic about the novel than I.

January 31, 2025

Amy and Isabelle

 


Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
Fiction
1998
Finished on January 27, 2025
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In her stunning first novel, Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother—and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance. And eating, sleeping, and working side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls doesn't help matters. But when Amy is discovered behind the steamed-up windows of a car with her math teacher, the vast and icy distance between mother and daughter becomes unbridgeable.

As news of the scandal reaches every ear, it is Isabelle who suffers from the harsh judgment of Shirley Falls, intensifying her shame about her own secret past. And as Amy seeks comfort elsewhere, she discovers the fragility of human happiness through other dramas, from the horror of a missing child to the trials of Fat Bev, the community peacemaker. Witty and often profound, Amy and Isabelle confirmed Elizabeth Strout as a powerful new talent.

It's been 25 years since I read Amy and Isabelle, and according to my reading journal notes, I didn't care for it as much as I did this second time around. My plan for 2025 is to reread all of Strout's books (in order of publication), as well as those that I missed or are recently published. 

I marveled at Strout's storytelling, in awe that such a beautifully constructed work was a debut novel. The characters are fully realized, and the dialogue rings true. My heart ached for both mother and daughter in this story, not simply for the ebb and flow of the tension in their relationship, but for their insecurities and loneliness within their community. I was filled with anger towards Amy's math teacher, and wish more had come of the discovery of his predatory actions toward such a vulnerable young girl.

Below are my earlier thoughts about the novel. I'm glad I reread this book and that I enjoyed it more than I imagined I would.

My Original Thoughts (2000):

Not bad, but not great. Mother-daughter story. Daughter gets involved with one of her teachers and her mother finds out. Somewhat depressing. Fairly predictable, too, yet it held my attention.

My Current Thoughts (2021):

I remember a little bit about this novel, but no longer own a copy and probably wouldn't read it a second time, based on my average rating. I've read two other books by Strout (Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton) and tried to read The Burgess Boys, but couldn't get interested. Strout has quite a following, but other than Olive Kitteridge (which I loved), I haven't been too impressed. With that said, I am looking forward to reading Olive, Again and I'll give Oh William! a try.

January 29, 2025

Naked Prey

 


Naked Prey by John Sandford
Lucas Davenport #14
2003
Finished on January 19, 2025
Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

Lucas Davenport finds some changes — and some nasty surprises — in store, in the chilling novel by the number-one-bestselling author.

After thirteen years and thirteen Prey novels, John Sandford's writing is as fresh as ever. His last book, Mortal Prey, was "a model of the genre" (People) and "the cop novel of the year" (Kirkus Reviews). In the words of the Washington Post: "John Sandford does everything right."

Now, in Naked Prey, he puts Lucas Davenport through some changes. His old boss, Rose Marie Roux, has moved up to the state level and taken Lucas with her, creating a special troubleshooter job for him for cases that are too complicated or too politically touchy for others to handle. In addition, Lucas is married now, and a new father, all of which is fine with him; he doesn't mind being a family man. But he is a little worried. For every bit of peace you get, you have to pay — and he's waiting for the bill.

It comes in the form of two people found hanging from a tree in the woods of northern Minnesota. What makes the situation particularly sensitive is that the bodies are of a black man and a white woman, and they're naked. "Lynching" is the word everybody's trying not to say — but, as Lucas begins to discover, in fact the murders are nothing like what they appear to be. There is worse to come — much, much worse.

The night I finished Naked Prey, I stayed up reading until after midnight. I rarely do that, but I simply could not put this book down! It's been over 15 years since I read a John Sandford book (Mortal Prey), and quite honestly, I'm surprised that I enjoyed this installment as well as I did; the last few books in the Prey series were very disappointing. I'm not sure if the long break helped boost my enjoyment, but I couldn't read fast enough. The tension is taut, the dialogue snappy, and I enjoyed the introduction of the gun-toting, foul-mouthed, twelve-year-old girl named Letty West. I think Lucas and Del thought she was pretty sharp, too, and I hope to see more of her in the next book. 

Highly recommend!

January 27, 2025

After You'd Gone

 


After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell
Fiction
2000
Finished on January 16, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The stunning, groundbreaking debut novel of wrenching love and grief from the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait and National Book Circle Award Winner Hamnet.

Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice's family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended. A riveting story that skips through time and interweaves multiple points of view, After You'd Gone is a novel of stunning psychological depth, marking the debut of a major literary talent.

Maggie O'Farrell landed on my radar in 2020 with her popular new novel, Hamnet, which I read a couple of years later (waiting for the hype to die down). I enjoyed it so well, I went on to read one of her earlier novels (The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox), which I loved just as much as Hamnet. My mom also enjoyed these books and wound up buying all of O'Farrell's backlist, which are now in my stacks to read one by one over the course of the year. 

I started off with the author's debut novel, After You'd Gone. This reading experience was frustrating in that O'Farrell bounces back and forth between time periods, as well as points of view. I was very confused, jotting down names and traits, trying to sort out what was happening and to whom. The novel's focus is centered on three generations of women: Elspeth, Ann, and Alice. A jumble of events told from their individual perspectives makes for a dizzying read. (On one occasion, the events in Alice's life are told in third person. It then abruptly jumps to first person, and I had no idea if it was still Alice's thoughts or Ann's.) And yet, something about the writing kept me turning the pages, patiently waiting for the moment in which everything came together. And I was not disappointed, but rather rewarded with a marvelous, complex, suspenseful, albeit nonlinear story. As soon as I'd finished, I flipped to the beginning and re-read the prologue, which made so much more sense than it did when I began the book.

Looking back at my review on The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, I'm surprised to see that I had similar thoughts about O'Farrell's writing style as I did with After You'd Gone
I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, especially after the first half-dozen pages, which I needed to reread from the first paragraph; I was terribly confused. But I fell in love with O'Farrell's nonlinear structure, which includes multiple points of view, as well as jumps in the timeline. It was not until I was well into the narrative that it all started to fall into place, but there remained a few twists and turns, as well as some continued confusion, and an ambiguous finale. The author does an amazing job teasing out the details, allowing small glimpses into the history of the Lennox family.
I had wrongly assumed that the narrative confusion was merely that of the work of an unpolished author's debut novel. And yet, several novels later, that nonlinear, multi-POV writing is evidence of her unique style. It will be interesting to see if I note the same in The Distance Between, which will be my February read in my personal "A Year of Maggie O'Farrell" reading challenge.

Part mystery, part love story, After You'd Gone is literary fiction at its finest. This is one to read and discuss with others, and I know I'll read it a second time! Highly recommend.

January 25, 2025

The Stranger Diaries

 

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Harbinder Kaur #1
Mystery
2018
Narrated by Anjana Vasan, Sarah Feathers, Andrew Wincott & Esther Wane
Finished on January 15, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, The Stranger, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature.

To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary: "Hallo, Clare. You don’t know me."

Clare becomes more certain than ever: The Stranger has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

Despite the fact that it took me over a month to read The Stranger Diaries, I really enjoyed it. The narration by four readers added to my pleasure, although I wasn't all that interested in the secondary ghost story, which struck me as melodramatic and distracting. As with her Ruth Galloway series, Elly Griffiths has crafted a compelling mystery that kept me on my toes trying to guess who was responsible for the murder, as well as who was writing in Clare's diary. At one point, I gasped out loud, I was so surprised by the turn of events. 

Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Shakespeare's famous quote from The Tempest is mentioned throughout the story, and one I'll not forget. A few days prior to finishing the audiobook, I heard the passage quoted by a character in a TV series (The Diplomat) that we'd been watching. What a coincidence!

Elly Griffiths' gothic mystery is told from three alternating points of view, which lends more detail to events and scenarios. I'm looking forward to reading The Postscript Murders, in which DS Kaur returns to investigate the death of a ninety-year-old woman. The Stranger Diaries and The Postscript Murders are considered standalone novels, but I intend to read them in the order of publication.

January 23, 2025

Open Season

 


Open Season by C.J. Box
Joe Pickett #1
Mystery
2001
Finished on January 11, 2025
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.

As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backyard: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.

A solid entry in C.J. Box's popular mystery series! I was drawn in quickly, and found myself marveling at the fact that this was the author's debut work; the writing is polished and the plotting skillfully delivered. I guessed the bad guys' identities early on, but that didn't spoil my enjoyment. I've only read Open Season, but Joe Pickett brings to mind Craig Johnson's character, Walt Longmire. 

I bought Open Season while my husband and I were exploring Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons last fall (hoping to buy something by a local author) and I liked the book so well, I plan to read as much of the series as I can throughout the year. Box's detailed descriptions of the land and of the wildlife that inhabit Wyoming were fun to read now that I've been to that area of the country. There is some subject matter that is difficult to read (a young child and her mother find themselves in a dangerous situation with one of the villains), but none of those scenarios felt gratuitous. I did take issue, however, with two of the male characters and their commentary on women and their bodies. All in all, a quick read and a good story! Recommend.

January 21, 2025

The Guest Book

 


The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
Fiction
2019
Finished on January 6, 2025
Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

“Wars, plagues, names upon tombs tell us only what happened. But history lies in the cracks between.” ~ Sarah Blake, The Guest Book

Publisher's Blurb:

A novel about past mistakes and betrayals that ripple throughout generations, The Guest Book examines not just a privileged American family, but a privileged America. It is a literary triumph.

The Guest Book follows three generations of a powerful American family, a family that “used to run the world.”

And when the novel begins in 1935, they still do. Kitty and Ogden Milton appear to have everything―perfect children, good looks, a love everyone envies. But after a tragedy befalls them, Ogden tries to bring Kitty back to life by purchasing an island in Maine. That island, and its house, come to define and burnish the Milton family, year after year after year. And it is there that Kitty issues a refusal that will haunt her till the day she dies.

In 1959 a young Jewish man, Len Levy, will get a job in Ogden’s bank and earn the admiration of Ogden and one of his daughters, but the scorn of everyone else. Len’s best friend, Reg Pauling, has always been the only black man in the room―at Harvard, at work, and finally at the Miltons’ island in Maine.

An island that, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, this last generation doesn’t have the money to keep. When Kitty’s granddaughter hears that she and her cousins might be forced to sell it, and when her husband brings back disturbing evidence about her grandfather’s past, she realizes she is on the verge of finally understanding the silences that seemed to hover just below the surface of her family all her life.

An ambitious novel that weaves the American past with its present, The Guest Book looks at the racism and power that has been systemically embedded in the U.S. for generations.

The Guest Book is an exceptional novel and I'm thrilled that my first completed read of 2025 is a 5-star book. With three timelines, often from multiple points-of-view, we come to know the Miltons... and their secrets. The opening chapters take readers to Nazi Germany, but time moves forward quickly and Ogden and Kitty become the proud owners of not only a large summer home, but of an entire island. 

On Germany, 1935:
"It started so slowly, Milton. Coming toward us like a river shifting from its banks, one centimeter at a time. One lie, then the next. Lies so big there had to be a reason to tell them, there had to be some purpose, maybe even some truth--Goebbels is not an unintelligent man--"

She spoke without seeming to care if he heard, thinking aloud in the dusk. "Perhaps a communist truly did set off the fire in the Reichstag, though it made little sense. Perhaps there was a reason so many people were arrested that night, in Berlin alone. Perhaps there was a danger no one could see yet." Her voice caught. "But now has come the slow awakening--this will not pass. This will not stop."

She looked at him. "But it must be stopped."
On Island Life:
Mornings, the sea air stole through the open windows with the first light, hovering along the beadboard in the bathroom, upon the scrubbed linoleum on the kitchen floor, pulling the Miltons awake, the first sound that greeted them the single foghorn's note far off in the bay. And the summer days proceeded as if by sorcery. Lobsters were delivered into wooden crates tied to the dock every evening, and bacon onto the dock every morning with the milk. The Miltons woke and descended to the smell of eggs and toast, sharp coffee, and went out immediately into the sun if there was sun. They sailed. They climbed along the great rocks, found picnic spots. Swam in the cove. Knitted. Rowed across the narrow Thoroughfare to walk. And at twilight, they gathered again at the dock, or down on the rocks at the picnic grounds, and drank bourbon and vermouth, and cracked nuts. Darkness didn't fall up there, it took its time, it ceded glory to daylight, which lingered, longing to stay.
Sarah Blake not only paints a vivid portrait of each of her characters, but also of the island on which they spend their summers. I especially love the image of the trees, swaying like ship masts.
The forest path plunged away from the house, veering from the water and deeper into the woods. In here the light cataracted through the tree trunks and hanging branches, dimmed, the sharp pine mixing with the slow creak of the trees, swaying like the masts of ships they would never become. Their roots grew above the pine floor in long, thin shafts like the bones in an old lady's hand. 
The Guest Book is a multigenerational saga rich with themes of class distinctions, racial disparity, antisemitism, deep-rooted family secrets, and tradition. At nearly 500 pages in length, I couldn't put it down and was left with a sense of loss as I turned the final page. This is not one that I would enjoy on audio, given the non-linear timeline, but it's definitely one I will happily read again. It's been 13 years (coincidentally, also in January) that I reviewed Sarah Blake's marvelous World War II novel, The Postmistress. It might be time to read that one again. The Guest Book also brought to mind Anne Rivers Siddons' family saga, Colony, which I have in my re-read stack for this year. 

Highly recommend.

January 19, 2025

Favorite TV Series Viewed in 2024

 

We watch an episode of a TV series almost every night, and this past year there were quite a few winners. I'd be hard pressed to say which of these is my favorite as they are all outstanding. 

Click here for favorites from previous years.

January 16, 2025

Books Over 400 Pages Read in 2024

 


What do you consider a big book? Over 400 pages? More than 500? In 2023 I read a dozen books over 400 pages. This past year I read fifteen for a total of 7,138 pages. Nine of these books wound up on my Top Reads and Honorable Mentions lists, so in spite of my hesitation to read a weighty tome, they tend to be my favorites. It should also come as no surprise that there are a few titles here by Stephen King.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (548 pages)

September by Rosamunde Pilcher (536 pages)

The Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard (408 pages)

Billy Summers by Stephen King (515 pages)

Holly by Stephen King (449 pages)

Still Life by Sarah Winman (456 pages)

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (418 pages)

Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane (418 pages)

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (401 pages)

The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg (489 page)

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (566 pages)

Fairy Tale by Stephen King (599 pages)

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (441 pages)

The Women by Kristin Hannah (471 pages)

The River We Remember (423 pages)