Time to update you again on what I’ve read this past month. One of my goals this year is to read more and I am happy to report that by being in two book clubs and also reading a book and listening to another at the same time, I have been able to accomplish this goal!
Since my last update I have finished 5 books.
A Simple Favor-Darcey Bell
Synopsis: A single mother’s life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes in this chilling debut thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.
It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together—just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time.
But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong—Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.
Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing—not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor—is as simple as it seems.
A Simple Favor is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense—a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.
My thoughts-I was intrigued by this book and it didn’t disappoint, completely. There are a ton of twists and turns which keep you interested and engaged. It gets a bit less interesting once the mystery is solved. The book also uses a bunch of mystery novel plot points. This is neither good nor bad just an observation. This book is a film starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick and Henry Golding (hottie from Crazy Rich Asians). I haven’t yet seen the movie but it may be worth watching if only to see what they do with all of the plot twists.
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats-Ian Philipp Sendker
Synopsis– A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
My thoughts-A friend recommended this book and I usually really like books suggested to me by my friends. This one though did not hook me. The story was VERY involved with lots of characters and shifting time periods. I listened to this book and it may be better read. There are a lot of names and locations to keep track of which can be difficult when listening. I found myself getting distracted when listening. It is not a bad book. It is well written and the themes are interesting but it doesn’t translate well in audio form.
An American Marriage-Tayari Jones
Synopsis– Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.
My thoughts-This is an excellent read. The subject matter is difficult but the reading is phenomenal. Reading about relationships can either feel real or contrived and this one feels very real. So real that I found myself at different times being really angry with both of the main characters wishing that I could talk some sense into them! The story itself is the vehicle to talk about relationships and why things sometimes work and sometimes don’t.
One of my book clubs has chosen this book for July so I will listen to it and see if I have the same experience.
An Invisible Thread-Laura Schroff and Alex Tiresniowski
Synopsis-When Laura Schroff brushed by a young panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, something made her stop and turn back. She took the boy to lunch at the McDonald’s across the street that day. And she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both their lives had changed dramatically. Nearly thirty years later, that young boy, Maurice, is married and has his own family. Now he works to change the lives of disadvantaged kids, just like the boy he used to be.
An Invisible Thread is the true story of the bond between a harried sales executive and an eleven-year-old boy who seemed destined for a life of poverty. It is the heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned three decades and brought meaning to an over-scheduled professional and hope to a hungry and desperate boy living on the streets.
My thoughts-This is the type of book that I don’t really like. I’m not a huge fan of memoirs in general because of course the main character is always the hero of their own story. Human interest stories are interesting but I think it depends on who is telling the story. There are racial and socioeconomic aspects of this story that read untrue or glossed over. While I can appreciate that a person of wealth and privilege can have their life changed by someone from a completely different station in life, I find it disingenuous when the bulk of the story is about one person’s own greatness. Or when the most interesting part of the story is not the authors’.
Way Station-Clifford Simak
Synopsis-Enoch Wallace is not like other humans. Living a secluded life in the backwoods of Wisconsin, he carries a nineteenth-century rifle and never seems to age—a fact that has recently caught the attention of prying government eyes. The truth is, Enoch is the last surviving veteran of the American Civil War and, for close to a century, he has operated a secret way station for aliens passing through on journeys to other stars. But the gifts of knowledge and immortality that his intergalactic guests have bestowed upon him are proving to be a nightmarish burden, for they have opened Enoch’s eyes to humanity’s impending destruction. Still, one final hope remains for the human race . . . though the cure could ultimately prove more terrible than the disease.
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Way Station is a magnificent example of the fine art of science fiction as practiced by a revered Grand Master. A cautionary tale that is at once ingenious, evocative, and compassionately human, it brilliantly supports the contention of the late, great Robert A. Heinlein that “to read science-fiction is to read Simak.”
My thoughts-This is so not a book I would typically read and I only did read it because it was a book club selection. This book is so interesting and definitely stands the test of time. It was written in 1969 and deals with a lot of issues that remain important today. I don’t want to say too much because the way the book unfolds is fascinating by itself. This is a book where the concepts stick with you and make you think long after you’ve finished reading.
I am so happy to be reading/listening to so many books. I have already finished 2 for the next update and am in the middle of a 3rd. As I type this, I have to decide which book I want to listen to next because I finished one earlier today and I like to keep the momentum going.
Are you reading anything that you’d recommend or warn us away from?Share in the comments.
