Book of the Month: June

My best book for the month of June 2020 is The Giant by Laura Morelli. Here, the lives of childhood friends Michelangelo and fresco painter Jacopo Torni come together in the creation of some pieces of art that have been well renowned over the past five centuries.  Morelli writes in detail about the lavish sites and sounds of Renaissance Florence. The artistry and architecture of the city are deliciously described by an author with a PhD in art history. I am sure her background was helpful to her in writing this fabulous novel.

Catherine's War

Catherine's War is a survival story told in graphic novel format.  Taking place at the Sevres Children's Home outside of Paris, the main character, Rachel Cohen, discovers a passion for photography. She has not heard from her parents in months and does not worry about Hitler's war. With her camera she captures in image everything she loves. When the German Army closes in on Paris, Rachel has to change her name and go into hiding. As Catherine Colin, Rachel has to say goodbye to all of her friends and leave Sevres for safety elsewhere. With her camera, though, she bears witness to her own journey, including the countless people who helped her and other hidden children during WWII. The story is based upon the author's mother who was a hidden child during the war.

I loved this book. While the subject matter is sobering, it is light reading because the story is told through the eyes of a child. Children have a way of just being children during tough times. The seriousness of the times, though, is reflected in dialogue among the adult characters. I enjoyed reading about Catherine's self education on how to take a great photograph. The reader learns about photographic methods in the fun, easy style of a graphic novel. Having read a few photography books in my day, I can honestly say that Catherine's War would have been a better introduction to the craft than the some of the beginner books that I read.

The history of the hidden children during WWII is not well known. This book is my first introduction to their story and I am glad that I read the book. This is an important part of history that every person should know about but when read in a graphic novel format it is easy to understand.

5 out of 5 stars.

Cub

Cub is a humorous graphic memoir about growing up in the 1970s.  One of the reasons that I loved this book is that I too came of age in the 1970s and had the same experiences that our heroine Cindy had.  It was a walk down memory lane.

The publisher's summary:

"Twelve-year-old Cindy has just dipped a toe into seventh grade drama - with its complicated friendships, bullies and cute boys - when she earns an internship as a cub reporter at a local newspaper in the early 1970s. A rare, young female reporter takes Cindy under her wing, and Cindy soon learns not only how to write a lede, but also how to respectfully question authority, how to assert herself in a world run by men, and - as the Watergate scandal unfolds, how brave reporting and writing can topple a corrupt world leader. Searching for her own scoops, Cindy doesn't always get it right, on paper or in real life. Whether she's writing features about ghost hunter's, falling off her bike and into her first crush, or navigating shifting friendships, Cindy grows wiser and more confident through every awkward and hilarious mistake."

I also was a cub reporter in the early 1970s. I wrote a weekly column for 3 years on high school activities for the Hammond Times newspaper. Reading about Cindy's joy over getting the job and her pursuit of stories to tell was enjoyable. She had a reporter for a mentor while I did not. Her journalism class experiences mirrored my own and I began to miss my former classmates. We had a good time together. Watergate was the big news story of the day. Cindy was lucky to get involved in reporting that story.

Cindy was not popular in school and when her best friend left her for the clique of desirables she was devastated. I also had the same experience and the remembrance was sobering. My life story is so similar to Cindy's that it felt like I was reading my own biography. Similarities aside, this was a fun, quick read.

5 out of 5 stars.

Windows on the World

Windows on the World is a graphic novel that chronicles a son's search for his undocumented father who was working in the Twin Towers on 9/11. His father had a job as a dishwasher at the Windows on the World restaurant to support his family in Mexico. When his family does not hear from him within two weeks after the catastrophe, his son Fernando travels from Mazatlan, Mexico to New York City to look for him and bring him home. Fernando searches New York from the downtown area to Spanish Harlem neighborhood. Along the way, Fernando experiences a warm embrace from fellow immigrants and a cold shoulder from American citizens.

This book was based on the 2019 movie of the same title.  The plot moves fast as it shifts from Fernando's family life in Mexico to his illegal entry into the U. S. to begin his search for his father Balthazar. While this is a story that Americans should be used to hearing, it continues to grip our hearts 19 years later. I was unable to stop reading Fernando's story and wished that it continued on after the ending. It pulls at the heart strings when you read that he is told at a 9/11 rescue center that "if your father didn't officially work in the Towers, he can't officially be missing."  The reader can feel Fernando's disappointment and desperation. However, he knows what his mission is and does not let anything or anyone keep him from his search.

Windows on the World is a story that never get old. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Mountains Sing

The Mountain Sings by Nguyen Phan Que Mai is a historical novel of the Vietnam War. It is told as a family saga from the point of view of a North Vietnamese family. Tran Dieu Lan is taking care of her granddaughter Huong, nicknamed Guava, while all of her children are away from home fighting for the Viet Ming. The story alternates between Dieu Lan's life as a child and the 1970s when she cares for her granddaughter by switching from an honorable small paying job as a teacher to a well paying but dishonorable job as a trader of food and sundries. It carries a risk though. Dieu Lan could be executed if she was caught. The story covers 100 years of Vietnamese history and is brutally honest in its telling. This is the author's first novel to be published in English. It has not been published in Vietnam because of censorship issues.

The author's life story is just as impressive as that of her heroines. Born in North Vietnam in 1973 she moved to the South when she was 6 in order to reunite her family. She lived there as a street seller and rice farmer until she obtained a scholarship to a university in Australia. Her research for the book included interviews with many Vietnamese citizens as well as her own family. She heard about the Land Reform Act which caused wealthy landowners to lose their property to their workers and resulted in Dieu Lan losing her ancestral home in the novel. The title refers to Dieu Lan telling her granddaughter that the challenges faced by the Vietnamese people throughout history are as tall as the tallest mountains. Dieu Lan's explanation to Huong that the government's refusal to allow discussion of past wrongs and events mirrors the current government's censorship of her book. Dieu Lan explains that such discussions can bring about the rewriting of history.

I learned alot about Vietnam from this book and highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars!

Lavender Blue Murder

Lavender Blue Murder is the 21st Indigo Teashop Mystery by Laura Childs.  I have read every book in this series and while several of the past books in the series did not inspire me, this installment of the series was superb. In fact, it was better than anything I have read by her in about the past ten years.

Summary: 

Tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier Drayton Conneley are guests at a bird hunt styled in the precise manner of an English shooting party which means elevenses, gun loaders, the drawing of pegs, fine looking bird dogs, and shooting costumes of tweed, herringbone and suede. As gunshots explode like a riff of Black Cat firecrackers, another shot sounds too close for comfort to Theodosia and Drayton. Intrigued but worried, Theodosia wanders into the neighbor's lavender field where she discovers their host, Reginald Doyle, bleeding to death.  His wife Meredith is beside herself with grief and begs Theodosia and Drayton to spend the night. Theodosia wakes up at 2 am to find smoke in her room and the house on fire. As the fire department screams in and the investigating sheriff returns, Meredith again pleads with Theodosia for help.

Review:

I devoured the book. The writing was tight and may have been her best novel to date.  I don't remember Childs ever writing an opening without excessive amounts of background information on her characters or the City of Charleston.  Lavender Blue Murder was more like a straight mystery novel than a cozy. There was more graphic descriptions of the murder scene than usual and since the murder occurred in a different county, the law enforcement characters were new.  I liked this anomaly as the Bert Tidwell detective character has been overdone and he has never grown as a character throughout the 21 books. Another character, Timothy Neville, is shown to be hanging out with his gay lover. Neville has not been identified as gay before.  Another change was having the genteel Theodosia and Drayton participate in a hunting party. While at first this seemed out of character, I liked the change of scenery for them. In prior murder scenes they are always standersby to the murder. Here, they are actively participating in the exercise that caused the murder.

I was pleasantly surprised by Lavender Blue Murder. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Giant

I have been patiently waiting for Laura Morelli to publish another book since The Painter's Apprentice came out. Last week The Giant was published. It takes place in the early 1500s Florence and is about the lives of struggling fresco painter Jacopo Torni and his childhood friend Michelangelo Buonarotti. They are competing to be awarded a commission to create a sculpture out of a huge block of marble that has been lying in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore for a generation.

The publisher's summary:

"As a colossal statue takes shape in Renaissance Florence, the lives of a master sculptor and a struggling painter become stunningly intertwined. Fresco painter Jacopo Torni longs to make his mark in the world. But while his peers enjoy prestigious commissions, his meager painting jobs are all earmarked to pay down gambling debts. When Jacopo hears of a competition to create Florence's greatest sculpture, he pins all his hopes on a collaboration with boyhood companion, Michelangelo Buonarroti. But will the frustrated artist ever emerge from the shadow of his singularly gifted friend? Based on a true story."

Renaissance Florence is my favorite type of historical novel. I don't think that I have ever read one that I did not like.  The Giant is no exception. Author Morelli has written a novel rich in the artistry and architecture of Florence. As an artist myself, I am drawn to arty books. Morelli's take on the story is more realistic than that of other authors whom I have read given her descriptions of the setting, including the clothing, food, artisan guilds, and politics of the era that drove which artist was going to be favored by whoever was in power at the time.  I am certain that the author's Ph.D in art history helped her create a plot about the creation of Michelangelo's David. A statement from the author shows how her thought process about the sculpture moved her to ask questions that she could only answer with an intricate plot. She was fascinated with how it was made and unveiled to the public. After coming across a historical reference to Florentine fresco painter Jacopo Torni, Morelli decided to tell the story through his eyes. Torni, also known as L'Indaco, assisted Michelangelo with painting the Sistine Chapel.

The story is told through compelling characters. Jacopo's long-suffering sister Lucia and younger brother Francesco are loyal to him no matter what he does to not deserve it. His gambling buddies' ways to entangle him in card games seems authentic to the methods used today by those who ensnare others in addictions. Jacopo himself is shown as someone who gambles his life savings away almost daily in an effort to prove to himself that he is not a worthy artist nor a worthy person.

I absolutely loved The Giant and relished each page as I read through it.  5 out of 5 stars!

Book of the Month - May

My favorite book of the month is Seven Days by Alex Lake. It is a gripping psychological thriller with a great plot. Character Maggie has seven days to save her son Max before he turns 3-years-old. Maggie is dreading his birthday because she knows that she will lose him. Her previous 2 sons were taken from her on their third birthday by her captor who has imprisoned her in a basement for the past 12 years. The novel has an eerie atmosphere and along with its sense of urgency I was unable to put the book down.  I read it in one sitting.

The Man She Married

The Man She Married is a psychological thriller that takes place in England in the present year. Our heroine Alice meets Dominic Gill at his law firm where she is there to discuss a catering function that she has been hired to present. After a three month courtship they marry and Dominic moves in to her home which she previously purchased with cash. However, Dom has been avoiding her requests to finally meet his family at the wedding. Alice is confused by his attempts to put off their meeting but her starry eyes quickly forget about it. Three years later Alice is shocked when a police officer knocks on her door to let her know that her husband has died in a car accident. When she goes to the morgue to identify Dom, his estranged brother Simon promptly tells the police that the man in the coffin is not his brother Dominic. Alice is reluctant to admit that her Dominic is not in the coffin but hires a private detective to look into his background.

I loved this book. The twists were spectacular and were revealed as both Alice and Dominic told the story from their different points of view. It lent an eerie feeling to the book. I don't know why Alice couldn't see through Dom's deceptions. She clearly did not want to know if there was a problem in her marriage because any other woman would have been suspicious of him from the start. For a woman who owns her own business you would expect that she would not be the type of girl to fall for all the lies. Some of these instances required too much suspension of belief to be believable but it was the author's method of setting up the ending. The pace was fast, helping Alice determine the truth about Dom fairly quickly after his death.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Housekeeper

The Housekeeper is an exciting psychological thriller about a woman who seeks revenge against a former childhood friend who was responsible for her father's fall from grace ten years earlier.  Claire Peterson hates Hannah Wilson.  The new Mrs. Hannah Carter has married well and needs a new housekeeper to clean her mansion and take care of her four year old baby Mia. Claire assumes the name of Louise Martin and gets herself hired as the maid in the Carter household. From there Claire/Louise plots her revenge against Hannah in order to force Hannah into confessing that she lied about Claire's father and caused Claire's family to lose everything including the lives of both her parents.

With a title like "The Housekeeper" the reader knows that she will be a crazy stalker. Claire certainly seems to fit the bill with her kooky inner dialogue and actions. Hannah is a little off the wall herself and the back and forth between these two ladies keeps the reader wondering which one will come out on top. The ending was unexpected and made the plot a magnificent one. I think Claire had some mental issues unrelated to her family's downfall. It made her a fun character and I couldn't help but admire her even though she was the villain.

4 out of 5 stars.

Wrap Up of What's in a Name 2020 Challenge

The What's in a Name Challenge has 6 categories of elements that book titles must have included in them.  This year the categories were:

an ampersand

an antonym

4 letters or less

A given/first name

reference to children

one of the 4 natural elements: water, air, fire and earth

My book choices were: 

Sweet & Slow

Fasting Feasting

Saga

Sabina

The Stolen Girl

Rosewater and Soda Bread

My favorite book was Saga, a science fiction and fantasy graphic novel that was based on Star Wars.  The version of Saga that I read included comic strips 1 through 54, which is the entire Saga series to date.  I was hooked on the story from the first page and had a hard time putting it down. With 1,300 pages to read I did have to take a breather but I got it done in two days.

Sweet & Slow

When you look at the book cover for Sweet & Slow you expect a beverage cookbook. However, more than half of the recipes are for appetizers, dips, soups and desserts. Within the pages of this book you will find recipes for 8 hot chocolate beverages, 11 ciders, 6 teas, 7 coffees and 17 wine and alcohol recipes. All are made in a crockpot with cooking times that vary between one to seven hours.

The beverage recipes are in the back of the book, another anomaly for an advertised beverage book. Before buying this book I had never heard of baking a cake or pie in a crockpot. It's an ingenius idea and although I purchased the cookbook for beverage ideas it is impossible not to want to try at least some of these 150 dessert recipes. There are not only cake and pie recipes but also puddings, brownies, crisps and cookies.  I tried several recipes and my favorites were Fudgy Peanut Butter Cake, Lemon Lime Pudding, S'Mores Brownies and Vanilla Bean Caramel Custard.

The beverage recipes are not phenomenal but rather just OK. I made a few recipes from each category and liked only one tea, Cranberry Spice Tea, while 3 ciders caught my attention. They were Cherry Cider, Pomegranate Cider and Maple Bourbon Cider. In addition, the Caramel Hot Chocolate was tasty. I didn't like any of the coffee recipes.

Sweet & Slow is basically a dessert cookbook. The beverages that I liked were mainly ciders. Most people can find these in a general cookbook without the need for buying a "beverage" cookbook. I don't know why the book is advertised as such since only 50 of the total 350 recipes deal with beverages. If a reader is searching for beverage recipes it would be better to find a different book. If you want to make desserts in a crockpot then this book is for you. However, the book does not stand as a beverage cookbook.

3 out of 5 stars.

The Stranger's Wife

The Stranger's Wife is a riveting psychological thriller with a surprise ending. It is the 3rd book in the Detective Dan Riley Series, a police procedural mystery. It reads easily as a stand alone novel and is the first book that I have read in the series. It was published on January 16, 2020.

Beth and Cath are leaving their husbands. One is wealthy and having an affair with a man who gives her the kind of love that her cold, detached husband does not. One is living hand to mouth, suffering at the hands of a violent partner who would rather see her dead than leave him. You may think you know these women already and how their lives will unfold.  Beth will live happily ever after with her little girl and her soulmate. Cath will go back to her abusive husband and these two women will never cross paths.  But you will be wrong.  On the 3:15 p.m. train from London to Bristol, Beth and Cath are about to meet and discover they share one shocking thing in common.

A clever plot and suspenseful writing make this novel a page turner.  I read it in about two and a half hours and loved every bit of it.  I thought that is was a pretty good read until I got to the ending.  I was not prepared for how the plot was resolved and was pleasantly surprised by how the loose ends were woven together.  The story alternates between the point of view of Beth, Cath and Dan Riley. Cath's story did not take off until the midway point but was essential to the plot.

This was a relaxing read and I am putting the earlier two novels in the series on my TBR list.  5 out of 5 stars.