Whistler

 

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Fiction

2026

Finished on July 22, 2026

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

The acclaimed, prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling writer returns with a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.

When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.

Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It’s a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.

A delightful novel!

I finished Whistler a week ago and I'm still thinking about this wonderful story and its characters. It's the sort of novel that one can read very quickly, perhaps in a single day, yet I wanted to savor each page, forcing myself to read slowly, and yet I still finished in record speed. This is a book that is impossible not to tear through without pause!

What did I love? The relationships, all of them, but especially the one between Daphne and Eddie. I loved the backdrop of literature and the publishing world. I loved that Daphne recommended books much as the author does in her reels for Parnassus Books. (I added The Bee Sting, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, and Independent People to my TBR list). I loved the setting, wishing I could visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I think the last time I was there was with my daughter in 1996! I loved the story within a story within another story (which sounds confusing, but it works). And I love the way in which Patchett writes about family dynamics. When I think of her more recent works, I feel that they are centered around family relationships, unlike her earlier novels (Bel Canto and State of Wonder, specifically). Oh, and I especially loved that this is told from one point of view, and is more or less linear (aside from the flashbacks centered around an incident in Daphne's childhood). The last half dozen books that I've recently read included dual points of view, as well as alternating timelines. Whistler felt like a breath of fresh air!

Reading Whistler gives one a sense of deja vu. Anyone who has read Patchett's memoir, These Precious Days, or her New York Times essay, "My Three Fathers," may wonder if Whistler is autobiographical. There appear to be parallels to her life, but while she may draw on personal experiences, the book is not a story of Ann Patchett's life.

I loved Whistler. It may be my favorite book of 2026. It may even be my favorite by the author. And the ending couldn't have been more perfect! I won't be surprised if I read it a second time before the year is over. 

Highly recommend!!

Working on being an Ann Patchett "completist," I have only three remaining novels left to read. She is obviously one of my favorite writers.

Novels:

Tom Lake (5/5)

The Dutch House (4/5)

Commonwealth (4/5)

State of Wonder (5/5)

Bel Canto (5/5)

The Magician's Assistant (3.5/5)

Nonfiction:

These Precious Days (5/5)

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (4.5/5)

What Now? (pre-blogging days)

Truth and Beauty (3/5)

To Be Read:

Run

Taft

The Patron Saint of Liars

The Marriage Portrait

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

Historical Fiction

2022

Finished on December 8, 2025

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the author of the New York Times best seller Hamnet--winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Women's Prize for fiction--an electrifying new novel set in Renaissance Italy and centering on the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici.

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.

Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now make her way in a trouble court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court's eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, for all her rank and nobility, the new duchess's future hangs entirely in the balance.

Full of the drama and verve with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life and offers an unforgettable portrait of a resilient young woman's battle for her very survival.

Bravo! I love this novel! Maggie O'Farrell is a consummate storyteller, and The Marriage Portrait may be her best book yet. With vivid settings and strongly defined characters, O'Farrell transports her readers to 16th century Italy. 

The sky above her head is vast, stretching from the tops of the cypresses all the way to the distant peaks of the Apennines, which can be seen, far off, in the purple-grey haze. As she walks beneath it, she is aware of its spectrum shifts, from the pink of sunrise, to red, to orange.

This, she thinks. All this. The cypresses like rows of upended paintbrushes, waiting for the giant hand of an artist, the low and subjugated wind, the jagged line of mountains drawn in charcoal on the horizon, the muted calls of servants to each other, somewhere behind her, the open doors of the villa, the clink of bells around the necks of cattle, the lines and lines of fruit trees that open into avenues as she walks by. She wants this. She feels the bliss of it all on her skin, like the graze of drizzle after a parching drought. She can take the other, she can bear it, if it means she can have this. She will exchange that for this. She will, she can.

Narrated in alternating timelines, the suspense of Lucrezia's future kept me reading late into the night. And yet I read slowly, savoring the prose, visualizing each scene and introduction of new characters.

The gown rustles and slides around her, speaking a glossolalia all of its own, the silk moving against the rougher nap of the underskirts, the bone supports of the bodice straining and squealing against their coverings, the cuffs scuffing and chafing the skin of her wrists, the stiffened collar hooking and nibbling at her nape, the hip supports creaking like the rigging of a ship. It is a symphony, an orchestra of fabrics, and Lucrezia would like to cover her ears, but she cannot.

While I have enjoyed several of her contemporary novels, O'Farrell talent shines in her dramatic historical fiction. I can't wait to read her upcoming 2026 release, Land, a multi-generational historical epic set in Ireland during the Great Famine. 

Highly recommend. I was tempted to re-read it the moment I finished!

The Correspondent

 

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Fiction

2025

Finished on October 4, 2025

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A woman tries to heal old wounds and make sense of the world the only way she knows how—through letters—in this charming, laugh out loud debut novel about a life fully lived.

“Dear Ms. Van Antwerp,

There is a movie coming out this month and I saw the trailer and it made me think of you. It’s about an old woman who lives alone like a hermit.  She is eccentric and rude….”

Sybil Van Antwerp is a mother and grandmother, divorced, retired from a distinguished career in law, an avid gardener, and a writer of letters. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books. 

Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. But as Sybil expects her life to go on as it always has, letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life.

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel that is a testament to the power of the written word.

What a delightful book! Several blogging friends have raved about The Correspondent, so when I saw a copy on the shelf at Imprint Bookshop (in Port Townsend, WA), I couldn't resist. One of my favorite subgenres is epistolary fiction, and as I sat down to start this post, I did a quick search to see just how many I've read/reviewed. Wow. I had no idea I'd read so many.* When I was a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, I created an endcap with some of my favorite epistolaries. Today, I'd need two endcaps! 

I wonder what it is about a book centered around a collection of letters that is so satisfying. Until the advent of email (I think we started with Prodigy and then moved on to AOL), I used to write to a few of my childhood friends, a good friend who moved to the East Coast, and to a few relatives (my grandmother, my godmother, and my mom, all after I moved from California to Nebraska). I loved finding pretty stationery to use for my letters, and had a couple of fountain pens that were fun to write with. I miss sitting down with pen in hand to write long, chatty letters, but typing is so much easier. Once we had a computer, I began to type letters, printing them out to send in the mail. Even that method has gone by the wayside. I try to send birthday cards through the mail, but texting & Facebook seem to be the favored mode for that communication. After reading The Correspondent, I'm inspired to start writing again. 

But back to the novel. What a wonderful achievement for Virginia Evans. I never would have guessed this was her debut! I enjoyed the book from the first page, and wound up starting over after I reached the 60th page. I knew it was going to be a winning read and I didn't want to read it too quickly. 

Sybil reminded me of Olive Kitteridge with her unfiltered, opinionated comments, saying exactly what she felt, not mincing words. And yet, I loved the spunk and kindness that came through in her letters. I also like that she received replies from the various authors to whom she wrote. (Yes, I know she's not a real person, but I was still happy for her.) I was especially thrilled to read the details of Ann Patchett's reply on a postcard with an image of her dog... I, too, have received the same postcard from Patchett in response to a letter I sent to her a few years ago! I also found myself nodding my head as I read the exchanges between Sybil and Joan Didion. I read The Year of Magical Thinking after our daughter died. "The club of parents who have buried children is a membership I wish I did not own, but the sense of being seen is comforting."

In addition to my love of epistolary works, I enjoy books that reference other books, and The Correspondent is chockful of titles, many of which I've read (denoted with the check mark):

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
• Round House by Louise Erdrich
• Inferno by Dan Brown
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier ✅
• The World Below by Sue Miller ✅
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf ✅
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ✅
• State of Wonder by Ann Pachett ✅
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett ✅
• Run by Ann Patchett
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese ✅
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion ✅
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie ✅
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
• The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff ✅
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck ✅
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ✅
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ✅
• The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Stoner by John Williams ✅
• The White Album by Joan Didion
• Amongst Women by John McGahern
• That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
• The Stories of William Trevor by William Trevor
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson ✅

Dear Virginia,

Thank you for creating such a wonderful character in Sybil. I loved each and every letter, and will recommend your novel to all of my book-loving (and letter-loving) friends. Please write back! Actually, I would prefer you skip a reply and get to work on another book. Meanwhile, I plan to re-read your excellent book in the coming months.

With great admiration,

A fellow lover of snail-mail.

*Below is my list (with links) of the epistolary books that I've read:

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (5/5)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (4.75/5)

These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner (5/5)

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (3/5)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (5/5)

Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (3.5/5)

Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (4.75/5)

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay (5/5)

The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg (4/5)

Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod (4/5)

Letters From Skye by Jessica Brockmole (3.5/5)

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson (4/5)

Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend by Laney Katz Becker (5/5)

Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin (3/5)

The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt (4/5)

A Celibate Season by Carol Shields and Blanche Howard (4.5/5)

My Dear Cassandra: Selections from the Letters of Jane Austen (Penelope Hughs-Hallett, editor) (3/5)

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (4.5/5)

Delicious by Ruth Reichl (3.5/5)

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay (4.5/5)

Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton (4/5)

Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (2.5/5)

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel (3/5)

'Tis the Season! by Lorna Landvik (4/5)

Between Friends by Debbie Macomber

The Boy Next Door by Meggin Cabot

The God of the Woods

 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Mystery

2024

Finished on June 26, 2025

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)

Publisher's Blurb:

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet, The God of the Woods is a story of inheritance and second chances, the tensions between a family and a community, and a history that will not let any of them go.

I loved The God of the Woods! I was immediately pulled into this captivating book from the first page, and had I been on a flight across the country, I would have ignored everyone around me, reading non-stop until the plane arrived at the gate. As it was, the first two nights I read long after midnight, and finished the book in less than four days. Normally, a book of this length (478 pages) would take me well over a week to complete. I can hardly wait to discuss it with my book group.

There are over two dozen important characters in Liz Moore's treasure of a book, and I kept a running list to keep them straight, as well as to jog my memory for my upcoming discussion. Between eight points of view, and multiple timelines (set during the 1950s, 1961-1962, 1973, and 1975), I was afraid that I'd get lost with the constant back and forth between characters and years, but the author handles these details skillfully. The chapters headings delineating the time periods were also helpful.

As I read, I was reminded of Chris Whitaker's exceptional novel, All the Colors of the Dark. Both authors kept me guessing until the very end, and their use of short chapters propelled their stories in such a manner that I didn't want to stop reading. I was somewhat concerned that Moore's denouement would feel rushed or convoluted, but her conclusion was clear and satisfying. Bravo!

I'm looking forward to reading from Liz Moore's backlist, most especially Long Bright River, about which I've heard great things.  The God of the Woods is a superb page-turner. Highly recommend!

Looking Back - Atonement

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Fiction

2002

Finished on March 30, 2002

Rating: 5/5 (Brilliant!)

Publisher's Blurb:

On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper’s son Robbie Turner, a childhood friend who, along with Briony’s sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge.

By the end of that day the lives of all three will have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not dared to approach and will have become victims of the younger girl’s scheming imagination. And Briony will have committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will color her entire life.

In each of his novels Ian McEwan has brilliantly drawn his reader into the intimate lives and situations of his characters; but never before has he worked with so large a canvas. Atonement is Ian McEwan’s finest achievement. Brilliant and utterly enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, England and class, Atonement is at its center a profound—and profoundly moving—exploration of shame and forgiveness, and the difficulty of absolution.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

First encounter with McEwan's works. Took a few chapters to get interested, but then I couldn't put it down. Beautiful, rich language. Use of color and light reminiscent of Willa Cather's prose. Witty. (13-year-old Briony's attempt to broaden her vocabulary in both her written and spoken word.) Alternating POVs reveal conflicting perspectives of a single event. Engrossing, touching, memorable characters. As the final chapter drew near, I slowed my pace, trying to savor each sentence. Was even able to stay fully immersed while on a flight to & from Nebraska. Set in 1935 England. A young girl's scheming imagination wreaks havoc on a family. Moves forward to Dunkirk 1941, then on to a reunion in 1999. Somewhat autobiographical in the references to writing?

My Current Thoughts:

I re-read Atonement in 2019 (reviewed here). Below is an excerpt from that review:

I received an ARC months before its publication date and was so excited to tell everyone about this wonderful book when it was finally released. I gave it a 5-star rating and it was my number one read of the year. I've had it on my shelf for 18 years, always hoping to make time to read it a second time, so after chatting with some friends about the books we've read and loved that others loathed, I decided the time had come. I had to see what I might had missed and why so many readers disliked this novel as much as they did.

It may come as a shock to many, but I am now one of those readers and it makes me sad to be so disappointed with a book after feeling so strongly about it for all those years. But it was all I could do to finish reading it and had I not previously read and loved it, I might have given up by the 50 page mark. Unlike my first reading, I did not find the story at all compelling or intense, but rather, I was bored with McEwan’s wordiness and impatient with the characters.

2019 Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

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!

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.

In Memoriam

 

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Fiction

2023

Finished on December 13, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

It’s 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. News of the heroic deaths of their friends only makes the war more exciting.

Gaunt, half German, is busy fighting his own private battle–an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the glamorous, charming Ellwood–without a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. When Gaunt’s family asks him to enlist to forestall the anti-German sentiment they face, Gaunt does so immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. To Gaunt’s horror, Ellwood rushes to join him at the front, and the rest of their classmates soon follow. Now death surrounds them in all its grim reality, often inches away, and no one knows who will be next.

An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.

Impressive debut! I've read numerous books about World War II, but only a few set during the Great War. In Memoriam took my breath away, and I'm astonished that this gorgeous novel is the work of such a young author; she writes with the skill of a seasoned novelist.

“Don't be ridiculous. It (gas) was outlawed at the Hague Convention," I said.

I actually said that. I actually believed that the principles of our civilisation, our civilisation that has developed further than any other in the history of the world, giving us telephones and trains and flying, for God's sake, we can fly. I thought, surely such a civilisation, that prides itself on conquering the beast in man and seeks only to bend towards beauty and prosperity, surely, surely, surely, it would not shatter in such a vile and disgusting way. 

The Hague Convention sought to make war more humane. We had reached a point in history where we believed it was possible to make war humane.”

As I read Winn's war saga, I was reminded of John Boyne's tale of two soldiers in his remarkable novel, The Absolutist. Both stories examine not only the horrific effects of war on young men (many still in their early teens), but also of forbidden love during a period in history in which a soldier could not only be court-marshalled, but possibly executed for an illicit affair with another man. In addition to the budding romance between Gaunt and Ellwood, Winn draws her readers into the trenches at the front lines (including Loos and the Battle of the Somme, the latter of which was one of the bloodiest battles of the war), at times so brutally graphic that I'm sure I would turn my head if viewing the scenes on the big screen. And yet, the violence isn't gratuitous, and I came to care for all the boys, heartbroken with each new posting of death in The Preshutian Roll of Honour.

"Over the top, you cowardly bastards!” I cried, my voice breaking, because I did not want to do it, I didn’t, Elly, I knew those men, but what other choice had I? They were stupid with fear, and only more fear would move them.

and

It was dusk, on a Friday. The battered skeletons of trees tapered against the fresh starlight in No Man's Land. The sky offered curious glimpses of beauty, from time to time. The men wrote about it in their letters, describing sunsets in painstaking detail to their families, as if there was nothing to see at the front but crimson clouds and dusted rays of golden light.

With great tension, superb dialogue, and an unpredictable finale, Alice Winn has crafted an outstanding work of historical fiction that held me enthralled from beginning to end. My only disappointment is that there is no backlist of earlier novels to add to my TBR list. This is an author to watch for! 

I couldn't put it down. Highly recommend!

Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life

 

Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron

Nonfiction - Memoir

2022

Read by Delia Ephron

Finished on November 25, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

The bestselling, beloved writer of romantic comedies like You've Got Mail tells her own late-in-life love story, complete with a tragic second act and joyous resolution.

Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She’d lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry’s death, she decided to make one small change in her life—she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She ended up in Verizon hell.

She channeled her grief the best way she knew: by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates fifty-four years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and sixties folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love.

But this was not a rom-com: four months later she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia.

In Left on Tenth, Delia Ephron enchants as she seesaws us between tears and laughter, navigating the suicidal lows of enduring cutting-edge treatment and the giddy highs of a second chance at love. With Peter and her close girlfriends by her side, with startling clarity, warmth, and honesty about facing death, Ephron invites us to join her team of warriors and become believers ourselves.

Bravo! I have not read any of Delia Ephron's books, but I loved her films, You've Got Mail and Michael. I received an advance audio copy of Left on Tenth a couple of years ago and have finally made the time to give it a listen. Usually, I don't care for an author reading their own books, but Ephron's narration is outstanding. She drew me in to her life, and inner circle of friends and family, making me feel welcome, which in turn made me care about her struggle and recovery from leukemia. Delia's sister, Nora, died from complications of acute myeloid leukemia, the same type of cancer that Delia was fighting. Delia goes into great detail of her grueling treatment, but not once is it repetitive or boring. She shares sweet stories about her lovely new husband, Peter, and sprinkles humor throughout her memoir. I never felt that she was keeping her readers at arm's length, but rather created an intimate room for us to visit. I loved her conversational delivery, her authenticity, and her complete lack of pretension; if there was any name-dropping, it was never a distraction. 

On Friendship:

All these different friendships. Mine with Eugene is both business and personal. These bonds matter. They are little homes. Places of safety. I am taking stock now. Friendship. God, I love my friends.

On Grief:

 The silence in the apartment is loud.

On Love:

And one single thing about all this: We were both seventy-two and age meant nothing. We were getting as loopy, as obsessed with each other as anyone falling under the spell of romance.

On Dogs:

Dogs dig deep into your heart. They’re in the room, on the floor, in your lap, on the bed, pestering you for treats, chewing your sock, burrowing under sheets, making you laugh, following you about, eating the cheese you left on the table, tearing in wild happy circles after baths. They trust. They are innocence. They are unjudgmental observers of your every unguarded moment.

As much as I loved this audiobook, I would like to own a print edition for a second reading. Highly recommend!

I received a complimentary copy from Libro.fm. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Nonfiction - Memoir

2023

Finished on November 10, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

It's easy to see the beginning of things, and harder to see the ends. ~Joan Didion

Publisher's Blurb:

In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poet’s attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

I am out with lanterns, looking for myself. ~Emily Dickinson

I loved this book. However, it's brutally honest, and as Smith reveals the demise of her marriage, those who have faced similar scenarios may find it a difficult read. And yet, this new-to-me poet writes beautiful passages (and poems) centered on marriage, loss, motherhood, friendship and life without falling into a stereotypical navel-gazing rant. Some pages hold a single sentence or quote, others a brief paragraph, and a few need two to three pages to convey Smith's thoughts. It's this sort of layout that begs for "just one more page." It could have been twice as long, and it still wouldn't have been enough for this reader. 

I especially love her lyrical cadence in this passage:

There are so many windows, the house is lit naturally all day long, and you can follow the sunlight as it moves from the back of the house at sunrise to the front at sunset. There are so many windows, I couldn't bear to hang blinds or full curtain panels. With only cafe curtains covering the lower halves of the windows, my head can be seen floating from room to room at night from the street. There are so many windows, living in this house is like living in a glass display case, especially after dark. There are few places to hide.

She sounds like someone with whom I'd enjoy being friends:

I wonder what I would put in my own dating profile. Poet, writer, single mother of two, Gen Xer, lifelong Ohioan, city mouse, vegetarian. Loves books, live music, travel, dogs not cats, black coffee and black tattoos, dark beer and dark chocolate. Self-employed. Author of several books. Liberal, pro-choice, agnostic, monogamous. Aquarius. Gregarious introvert. Funny as hell. Occasionally melancholic. Good cook. Bed sleeper. Woman who, let's be real, probably won't trust you. Woman who will try.

About memoir:

"A memoir is about 'the art of memory,' and part of the art is in the curation. This isn't the story of a woman who fell in love again and therefore was healed and lived happily ever after. This is a story of a woman coming home to herself."

About poetry:

Poems and songs aren't the same, but they both rely on voice and form, rhythm and sound play, metaphor and image, repetition and surprise.

There were aspects of this book that resonated deeply with me, taking me back to a sad time in my life. But like Smith, I carry that young self inside me with the realization that I have grown from those difficult experiences.

How I picture it: We are all nesting dolls, carrying the earlier iterations of ourselves inside. We carry the past inside us. We take ourselves— all of our selves —wherever we go.

Inside forty-something me is the woman I was in my thirties, the woman I was in my twenties, the teenager I was, the child I was…

I still carry these versions of myself. It’s a kind of reincarnation without death: all these different lives we get to live in this one body, as ourselves.

I look forward to reading more by Maggie Smith. I've added Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change to my TBR list. I also subscribe to her Substack newsletters and follow her on Instagram. 

To read Maggie Smith is to embrace the achingly precious beauty of the present moment. ~TIME 

Billy Summers

 

Billy Summers by Stephen King

Fiction

2021

Finished on September 20, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Publisher's Blurb:

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything...

This spectacularly riveting novel is part war story, part love letter to small-town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. Billy Summers is about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.

You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

Just wow. What can I say? This is Stephen King at his finest. (And I've probably said that about every book of his that I've read in the past decade or two.) I’ve had this book on my shelf for a long time and while I’m sorry that it took me so long to finally get to it, I’m glad I had it to read on our road trip to the Tetons. I couldn’t put it down, and it was perfect for nighttime reading.

What did I love about it? For starters, Stephen King is known to begin his novels in medias res, dropping readers into the middle of the action. I can count on King to feed me one or two opening paragraphs that automatically have me scrambling to find out what's going on. 

I’m a big fan of stories within stories, and Billy Summers has one of the best I’ve ever read. Not one for recent war stories, this secondary story surprised me; I couldn’t stop reading about Billy’s experiences in Fallujah.* Every time King reverted to the present, I found myself eager to return to Billy’s book. And, as Billy considers his writing and subject matter, the reader is privy to the writing process, which King is a pro at conveying. 

So, there’s the story within a story, the war in Iraq, the writing process, and yes, a love interest of sorts. With each introduction of new characters, King draws you in further, making you feel as if you’re a part of the narrative, anxious for what lies ahead.

I also liked that this novel is unlike so many of King's earlier works, devoid of all but a minor glimpse of the supernatural. It also includes nods to his previous books, which is fun and rewarding to long-time fans.

Billy is an interesting character, posing as a somewhat dumb ex-Marine to those who have hired him to perform hits on various "bad guys." His childhood is filled with pain and trauma, and he enlists before his 18th birthday, but he is far from dumb. Juggling various personas takes a lot of mental acuity, and Billy excels in his line of work.

At over 500 pages, I didn’t want the book to end. And speaking of endings, what an astonishing finale. Makes me want to start from the beginning and read it again. It reminds me of another great novel with a likeable hero (by Dean Koontz), but to share the comparison would reveal a possible spoiler.

Bravo! Masterful storytelling. Highly recommend.

If interested, click here to read an interview with King in Esquire. (There are spoilers.)

*Note to self: Add No True Glory by Bing West to my TBR list.