Anne Hart

If you are looking for an indigenous author to support in November, then This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger has a great historical fiction read for you.   Krueger is a member of the Anishinaabe ( Ojibwe ) tribe.   This dialogue between a bit so likable character Jack and the teen narrator Odie will give you a good idea of the story.   “Ask me, God’s right here. In the dirt, the rain, the sky, the trees, the apples, the stars in the cottonwoods. In you and me, too. It’s all connected and it’s all God. Sure this is hard work, but it’s good work because it’s a part of what connects us to this land, Buck. This beautiful, tender land.” Jack in Chapter 20.  Odie then replies with his theory about how “God is a tornado.” which refers back to when a tornado killed a loving teacher, Mrs. Frost.  The book was originally published in 2019 and is great as an audiobook coming in at 14 hours and 19 minutes on regular speed versus 464 pages of hard copy.   ...

One of the greatest things about books is learning from other people’s/characters’ mistakes.  In These Precious Days by Ann Patchett, she gives us a very intimate glimpse into some key points in her life. Thank you to Harper for sending me this ARC so I could feel like I was enjoying a little girl talk with Ann.   “Books were not just my education and my entertainment, they were my partners. They told me what I was capable of. They let me stare a long way down the path of various possibilities so that I could make decisions.” I Award 1st place to essay, These Precious Days about taking care of her friend Sooki.  The cover art of the book is by Sooki.  2nd place goes to To the Doghouse about how she became inspired to be a writer thanks to Snoopy.  And my 3rd place Award goes to Three Fathers about her Dad and two Stepdads.  These are all short and sweet stories that would be good for Bookclubs looking for a cozy read that will inspire members to sha...

Have you ever read a book you thought was a retelling and then you read all the reviews to find out you’re the only one?  That’s what happened when I read You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson.  I started thinking it was a retelling of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  The book is written in a unique narrative because it is a fictional autobiography with footnotes and interludes. Miriam is a psychological researcher who has literally and figuratively perfected intentional detachment.  Her odd, almost unreliable narrative is explained by her last when she grows up during The Great Reckonin g. The idea of an apocalypse is a comfort, because it makes death seem like something we can all experience together, in a single moment, a colorful firework burst.”   Miriam seemed like a sociopath to me.   She uses her research to disassociate everyone with the New Society (big brother).   We also have Dr. Rosem...

Do you need a good laugh?  Do you need to know all families are crazy?  If the answer to either is yes, then read ACT Like You Got Some Sense by Jamie Foxx.  I’m so thankful Grand Central sent me this one and at the perfect time.  Jamie’s life story is crazy.  What I loved was his ability to forego anger and resentment and seize every opportunity he has to make his life better.  The odes to his Granny, Estelle Marie Talley is heartwarming if you can get past all the bad language.  Although I don’t like a lot of cursing, Jamie tells it like it was and his.  His upbringing in small-town Terrell, Texas lends to a lot of jokes.  The best parts for me were his honesty about his shortcomings as a father. Raising his two daughters to be humble and hardworking while he was in Hollywood was hard.  You can tell he truly loves his daughters Corinne, 27, and Anelise, 13.   Anelise's antics remind me of my opinionated and daughter. ...

Should the names of killers be excluded so we don’t empower serial killers? In A Killer By Design by Ann Burgess, she makes a point that solving crimes is about the victim, not the killer.  I had read about Ann Burgess in John Douglas’ Mind Hunter.     I did like   John E. Douglas ’ “ Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit ”.   I loved that A Killer by Design was from Ann’s perspective.   The FBI unit relied on Ann’s research yet as a non-agent she had an interesting relationship with the agents.   Ann found “sexual violence was more about power and control than the act of sex itself.” She didn’t come to this all by herself and also gave credit to Candace Delong.   This book was hard to read at parts because it felt like the serial killers wanted to talk about the crimes, specifically their thoughts, actions, sexual preferences, likes, etc. It freaked me out how they were almost bragging.   While I enjoyed getting Ann’...

Have you ever visited the 9/11 World Trade Center memorial in New York?  I have not, but now I have to go after reading Blue Sky Gone by J.S.Farmer.  This beautiful tribute to those affected by the 9/11 attacks was a page-turner.  I loved all the relationships between the two sisters Audrey and Hannah.  It’s great how two sisters can be so different yet so alike.  The details in Audrey’s police training were fabulous as the author was a police officer.  Hannah’s love interest, Travis was a bit too good to be true but I loved him.  The great thing about this story is it follows up with the after-effects of the 9/11 attacks.  The trauma and injuries are still being dealt with daily.  Although this book is like a warm hug, there is no sugar coating the actual events or aftermath.  It’s not just a great story,  it’s an example of how to cope with tragedy.  I loved this book.  

Is there an author you want to read every book they’ve written? After I read The London House, I knew I wanted to read every book by Katherine Reay.  So I’m making my way through her books.  The Printed Letter Bookshop was next on my list and it did not disappoint.  It’s a warm cozy read about legacies, friendships, and the power of books.   Madeline inherits a small bookshop from her estranged Aunt Maddie.  Madeline has a career as an attorney through so she decides she will sell the bookshop and continue her life as usual.  Due to a setback at work she stays longer than intended trying to get The Printed Letter in better shape to be able to sell it.   The employees at The Printed Letter, Claire and Janet become much more than employees to Madeline.  Although Madeline is the main character, the chapters alternate from her point of view to also that of Claire and Janet.  All three are facing life issues and changes.  Each one of...

If you were to write a novel set in a location you loved as a kid, where would it be?  The scenery from our childhoods can strengthen us or haunt us.  In Kelly Mustain’s The Girls in the Stilt House, most of the story takes place in the Natchez Trace area of Mississippi.  Mustain grew up in Natchez, Mississippi, and the swampland around it is full of creatures and stories.  There is beauty and danger in both.  The story takes place during the tumultuous 1920s.  The Natchez Trace is a character in the book all itself with it being the mother of the stilt house in the swamp.  Ada, a young white girl lives in the stilt house owned by her drunk and abusive bootlegging father.  He’s a horrible person!  He’s the reason Matilda, a teenage African American girl who is the daughter of a black sharecropper finds Ada.  Matilda’s father is a bootlegger too.  Lucky for Ada and Matilda, they can help each other in different ways.  The...

What would you do for your sibling?  In Keeper of the Night by Kylie Lee Baker, the love a brother has for his half-sister is out of this world, literally.  The dark fantasy/horror/thriller is set in 1890s Britain and Japan.  But the story gives insight into worldwide folklore surrounding death and the idea of Death personified.  Death is one thing every single person in this world has in common.  Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami, Ren Scarborough is a tormented girl.  She’s unloved by her father and stepmother.  She’s bullied for being biracial.  And she’s harboring her secret magical powers.  She does know the amazing true love of her stepbrother Neven.  For all the torment and darkness in the story, Neven is hopeful, loving, and empathetic.  Ren flees Britain to go to Japan to find her mother.  Neven goes with her just because he loves her.  The venture to Yokohama.  They meet the Goddess of Death...

Is it better to grow up poor and then become rich or grow up rich and become poor?  In The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel, it is better to be poor and then become rich.  If you are born poor you’ll know how to survive, whereas if you’re born rich and then become poor you won’t know how to feed yourself.  The Last Rose is about the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in WWII.  The story starts with an American filmmaker in a hotel in Shanghai in 1980 Shanghai, China meeting the millionaire businesswoman Aiyi Shao.  Aiyi then tells the filmmaker the story of Shanghai housing many Jewish refugees who fled from German-occupied Europe during WWII.  Before the occupation, Aiyi is a wealthy heiress running a jazz club.  Then she meets Ernest Reismann who is one of the penniless Jewish refugees.  He’s a piano player and connects with Aiyi through music.  Aiyi makes multiple complex decisions that have consequences for a lot of differen...

What is the creepiest neighbor you’ve had?  In Karen McQuestion’s The Moonlight Child the Fleming family definitely deserves the creepy neighbor award.  The story starts out by introducing us to a different family.  Wendy is a Mom dealing with Morgan who is a troubled teen dealing with drugs.  Morgan has disappeared.  Then we meet Amy, an attorney who helps children in foster care.  Amy calls her Mom, Sharon, and asks her to take in Niki, a former foster child.  Sharon agrees and that is how we meet the creepy Fleming family.  Mia is a little girl at their house which no one knows about.  The Fleming Mom, Suzette is a psychopath.  Jacob, her son, is likable but also lacks a spine.  He has the ability to help Mia escape which makes his character so frustrating.  I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to handle the book but the “abuse” is primarily mental.  The neighbors, Sharon and Niki, know something is wrong.  ...

Have you ever called in an anonymous tip to the police?  If you read The Monsters We Make by Kali White, you would be calling in every slow vehicle that drives by your house, anyone who ever offered your kid candy, and any house with an attic or basement.  I’m not sure my kids will ever be let out of the house again after reading it.  Sammy and Crystal Cox are siblings growing up in the 1980s.  They live with their Mom who works two jobs and is a bit clueless.  Crystal has a vision disability where she is legally blind but she writes for the school yearbook and newspaper.  Following the disappearances of two paperboys from their small Midwestern town, Crystal decides it’s the perfect story to win a writing contest for a scholarship. Officer Dale Goodkind is the detective on the case who is haunted by his past.  This book is gut-wrenching!  We are given two possible men who are the potential monsters kidnapping the boys.  Sammy and Crys...

Have you ever tried to read a book just because you wanted to feel young, cool, and hip?  When I first tried reading A Visit from the Goon Squad, it was for purely selfish reasons.  It was like I wanted to be able to say I understand post-postmodern literature.  Bragging rights that I’d read the book were what I needed.  When I tried reading it though, I was pissed.  I read to escape work, not read more PowerPoint presentations.  And I thought if this is a bestseller, I can write something so much better.  Obviously, I was wrong.  When I read a review that said to read it like a collection of related stories, then I got it!  Now, 10 years later I really get it.  Basically, it’s the story of Bennie and his younger troubled assistant, Sasha. It explores all the people which connect Bennie and Sasha.  It explores how time (the goon) gets us all.  I re-read this book in anticipation of her newest book The Candy House which h...

Have you read a WWII historical fiction from a German’s point of view?  The German Wife by Debbie Rix is a disturbing German perspective on World War II.  I loved the straight chronological narrative by Annaliese’s perspective of being a German around 1939.  Annaliese is a young woman who is swept off her feet by Hans. He’s a doctor wanting to do research.  He sees Hitler’s regime as a way to be able to further his medical research.  He wants to find a homeopathic cure for malaria.  He gets caught up in the violence and depravity that was the Nazis' goal.  Hans pressures Annaliese to be a good German hausfrau and have children.  Then a Russian prisoner named Alexander is sent from Dachau to work in their garden.  Anna’s story then takes a big twist and then after the war ends, yet an even bigger twist occurs.  Then in 1989 the past once again haunts Annaliese and her unknowing son.  We can’t ever escape the past.  Annali...

What’s the longest you’ve taken to finish a book?  Anthony Doer’s Cloud Cuckoo Land took me more than 4 months to finish.  I wanted to really understand.  It is about the quest for fantasylands or heaven by all of us.  This book could be seen as a collection of short stories with each character narrating (Anna, Omeir, Zeno, Seymour, and Konstance) a different time (15th C, the 1950s, Korean War, 2020, and the future) and place (Constantinople, Idaho, and Outer Space) in a connected story.  What links all the people, places, and time periods is Antonius Diogenes writes a story (Cloud Cuckoo Land) around the first century C.E. narrated by Aethon. He longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise.  The different people, time periods, and places were all a bit overwhelming to me.  Then one of the people in Bookclub said to watch for the owl and it would all start connecting.  She was right!  Another said to watch f...

Can you imagine being the child of a serial killer?  In Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark Chloe Davis is a psychologist in Baton Rouge.  She became a psychologist to deal with the trauma of being the daughter of a serial killer.  She has a loving, doting fiancé, Daniel.  Then one of Chloe’s patients is murdered and she’s once again haunted by her past when six teenage girls were killed.  Chloe is determined to not let the past repeat itself which makes her quite the heroine with compelling vulnerability. Her brother, Coop, disagrees with Chloe’s choice of fiancé and is quite vocal about it.  Chloe’s mother is in a semiconscious state in a nursing home but has answers Chloe needs not just to the past murders but also to the current ones.  Chloe resorts to denial and abusing prescription drugs when she can’t cope.  It doesn’t help when a reporter calls because he’s doing a 20th-anniversary story of her father going to prison for the or...

What would your stage name be if you were a stripper?  I’m going with Aquamarine since colors seems to be popular.  In Marie Rutkoski’s Real Easy we get to know the inner world of a strip club.  Samantha aka Ruby is a stripper in 1999 at the Lovely Lady.  She’s such an awesome person.  An amazing stepmom, loving girlfriend, adored daughter, and a caring coworker.  She also suffers from a medical condition in which she doesn’t have female hormones, so she takes medications to keep her more feminine qualities.  We get to know a handful of strippers who all have colorful lives which we get to appreciate through the chapters they narrate.  One of the strippers gets killed and another is missing.  In the investigation into the murder and disappearance, we also get to know, Detective Holly Meylin, an investigator whose son died when her husband leaves him in a hot car.  She’s traumatized but keeps going the best she can.  Holly see...

Do you know a couple you think of as the perfect couple?  There is no such thing as a perfect marriage even if their Instagram is perfect.  In The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, we meet the Bishops.  They aren’t a “golden couple” as at the start of the book we see them going to a counselor.  Avery Chambers (D.C.’s Maverick Therapist) claims she fixes you in 10 sessions . I loved her methods of seeing how her clients acted out in the real world.  I liked how she took actions including being a whistleblower to the FDA for one of her clients who worked at a pharmaceutical company.  So when Marissa and Mathew Bishop go to Avery you’re not very sympathetic to them with their amazing careers  ( a lawyer and boutique owner), beautiful house, and 8-year-old son.  Marissa has cheated on Matthew though.  Marissa’s past isn’t that dramatic but she does have weaknesses.  It turns out her best friend growing up, Tina, wa...

Nina de Gramont's The Christie Affair definitely is a wild ride! Probably wilder than Agatha Christie’s actual romp around in London, 1925. Miss Nan O’Dea became Archie Christie’s mistress and he plans to marry Nan. We see not just Agatha dealing with lost love but also Nan’s teenage/ya love. Nan shows the many ways in which grief changes us. I loved the imagining of Agatha’s adventure through the English countryside. This is a fun look at unlikely alliances (Nan’s lover and Agatha), and how Agatha was a woman, heroin, lover, mother, writer, and wife. The mystery within the mystery was such fun traditional Agatha’s version of vigilante justice. Such a fun, wild ride even if I did hate Nan.

Have you ever read a book that made you feel like someone really understood what you’ve been through?  Emily Maloney did just that in her book/essay collection called The Cost of Living.  It was like she was saying: I see you; I understand; It’s not your fault, and You will survive and thrive.  The essays read like a book that just isn’t in chronological order.  Emily survived a suicide attempt at the age of 19, but the medical costs followed her for 10 years. The costs were more than just money but also socially, career-wise, familial relations, and personal worth. I’ve dealt with 3 family members' suicide, luckily 2 survived.  The issue of the medications making depression worse is so true.  I also had to deal with people not being allowed to spend the night at your house or come over.  The looks from neighbors as they turned and hurried into their homes.  Then there are the calls from collection agencies.  On the other hand, I also ...

I didn’t want to finish this book about 1/3 of the way in, but I finished it for Bookclub.  Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn is a look at the folklore of Hawaii.  I loved learning about the different gods, their connection to the land, and the struggles of indigenous Hawaiians.  A family of 5 lives on Honoka struggles to make ends meet even though both Mom and Dad (Augie and Malia) work.  The three siblings (Dean, Kaui, and Nainoa) have the usual sibling rivalries.  Nainoa (Noa) has healing powers which the parents take advantage of by collecting payment from those who come to be healed.  Noa’s gift is also a curse for him though.  The story was just long and drawn out.  It had all sorts of intricacies on the 4 other family members' lives which were irrelevant to the ultimate storyline.  The mother’s story is told in the second person which was weird.  The book also has odd sex scenes.  It was interestin...

How do you know if a suicide was really a murder?  The Cage by Bonnie Kistler is part murder mystery, part legal thriller, and part human rights drama.  Shay Lambert has worked hard to go to college and law school.  She’s smart, married, career-oriented, and overall a perfectly flawed woman.  She works long hours wading through boxes of documents to produce in a shareholder lawsuit against the iconic fashion mogul she works for named CDMI.  Their corporate symbol is the dove complete with caged live doves in the corporate headquarters.  When leaving work late one Sunday, the corporate HR person, Lucy, gets on the elevator with her.  The lights go out and Lucy gets shot in the head.  Shay says it was suicide.  Detective Riley starts getting fed red herrings by corporate counsel Barrett to think it was actually murder.  The trap works and Shay is in jail charged with murder and unable to make bail.  The characters she meets in ...

Do you like reading about lesser-known female historical figures?  Eva Stachniak’s The School of Mirrors is a great look at the juxtaposition of classes in eighteenth-century Versailles France.  We are shown a woman living in poverty, Veronique, a middle-class woman Marie-Louise, and royalty Queen Marie.  The book starts with Louis XV and his fetish for underage girls.  The King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour starts the Hall of Mirrors where a Polish count is visiting Deer Park. Lebel aka Monsieur Durand takes thirteen-year-old Veronique “for a better life” which she thinks will be working in a fancy house.  Instead, she’s to be schooled for the Hall of Mirrors to service Louis aka the Polish count.  Veronique is impressed with the luxurious silk gowns, exquisite meals, and opulent soft beds. Things go well for Veronique but then she discovers Louis's identity and she is taken away.  She is pregnant and gives birth to a daughter. ...

Do you like to be alone or around other people?  I’m a people person.  In The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman, the main character Nina likes to be alone.  She has severe anxiety.  Her life revolves around the bookstore, her cat, trivia competitions, and her planner.  She talks to her cat named Phil and she mimics him talking back.  Nina's planner is a character in itself.  She has two coworkers Polly and Liz who keep her in check with their witty banter.  The trivia competitions were hilarious.  She meets Tom.  She likes him but likes being alone also.  Her life is interrupted when She learns the identity of her father.  She was raised by her nanny, Lou, as her famous photographer mother traveled.  He has died leaving her innumerable sisters and brothers with ages ranging from fifty-nine to ten.  She also gains many nieces and nephews.  It was fun watching her and others learn the things they had ...

The admission of guilt from the outset of Helena (Lena) Gereghty set the stage for this creepy book.  Often when a book calls itself “gothic”, I find myself disappointed by the lack of darkness.  When I first started reading Lena’s story, I was worried I’d be disappointed.  I was not disappointed, I was blown away.  Lena descends into a darkness that was mesmerizing and inspirational at the same time.  She becomes a “physician’s assistant”  for the famous Verdeaus family empire.  Although she’s supposed to be helping care for the sickly son  Jonathan, her real job is to help the self-destructive party guests at Arrow’s Edge.  I loved the spooky aura created at Arrow’s Edge.  The secrets Lena learns not just about what occurs at Arrow’s Edge but also about the patriarch, Martin, help the darkness engulf Lena.  It makes Lena perfectly flawed, lovable, and frustrating.  The tie-in of Lena’s work with her Aunt in botany was...

How many years does a couple need to be married before throwing an anniversary party?  In Wildcat by Amelia Morris, the story begins with Leanne going to her friend Regina’s 4th Wedding Anniversary party.  It was so fun that Regina is the dramatic, privileged friend just like the character Regina George in the 2004 movie Mean Girls.  The dramatics just move on from there in an uproarious conglomeration of events.  These bougie women are fun to laugh at and shake your head at.  Leanne is a new mother who also has her first published book hitting the shelves soon.  She’s promoting her book and dealing with mundane middle-class issues.   It’s a fast read and pokes fun at social media in a way that made me laugh without feeling guilty.  I love social media, but it does have different effects on different people.  My favorite parts involved an author, Maxine.  Leanne admires her and it was so fun to see the connection between them of r...

What do you know about Argentina?  I have to admit my knowledge is mostly based on Evita, as in Madonna’s version of Eva Perón.  I learned so much from the new book On A Night of a Thousand Stars by Andrea Yaryura Clark.  I love historical fiction especially when it is about historical events or characters which I know nothing about.  The book has a dual timeline so that we Paloma in New York during 1998.  She’s a jewelry designer and a very neat character.  She’s then traveling to Buenos Aires for the summer.   Her father is to be the Argentinian diplomat for the U.N. Paloma starts in learning secrets from her parents' past.  She gets help from Franco Bonetti so she can get the real story of her father, Santiago.  The storyline connects with Argentina in the 1970s.  This time period is referred to as the Dirty War Santiago was in Argentina during the military dictatorship of 1976 when Gen Jorge Videla had some 30,000 people “disa...

What was your worse fear as a teen?  Mine was falling in front of crowds at school.  I was/am so clumsy.  In Marit Weisenberg’s This Golden State, 17-year-old Poppy has a lot of fears.  The main one is her parents’ true identities being discovered.  She has to constantly move schools when one of her parents gets worried they’ve been discovered.  Poppy is an amazing, complex teen trying to discover who she is in so many ways.  She fears mostly how she will care for her little sister when/if her parents are caught.  Poppy’s mother is one of those you hate but have to know what the heck she did to be so dangerous.  I hated her because she made her daughter live a half-life: one without friends, mentors, extended family, school activities, and even hope for her future.  Poppy sees Hope when they move to the Golden State, California.  It’s a place she knows her Mom has a connection to in some way.  Things start to show a con...

The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander was originally an essay published in the New Yorker.  The essay was a  reflection/analysis of the dangers facing young Black Americans.  Now the essay has been integrated with art, poetry, and even a letter.  The book looks at America’s unresolved problem with race.  Parts of it broke my heart.  It goes back in history and then ends with current events.  On page 101 of the advanced copy is a 1905 letter from a man at a university asking for information on “whether a negro sheds tears”.  This guy was seriously researching feelings.  I cried at the poem on page 111 titled The Boy Died in My Alley.  The artwork is kind of hard to see in the black and white printed ARC but the pieces of art are easy to look upon the internet to get the full feeling.  My favorite piece is on page 17 by Mary Sibande titled The Reign.  This is a small book that packs a powerful punch to the gut....

This book is a neat look at art during WWII as the Nazi soldiers “invade”.  The story starts in Rome in 1943.  Art lover, Marina Tozzi, helps her father run an art gallery there.  Her father is killed for harboring a Jewish artist.  Marina flees to Florence’s Villa I Tatti, owned by her father’s friend, American Bernard Berenson. He has accumulated a collection of artwork that he wants to protect and eventually donate to Harvard.  Also at the villa is  Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who curated J.P. Morgan’s library.   I read The Personal Librarian which is a book about Belle’s work at J.P. Morgan’s library.  The way I pictured Belle while reading The Personal was completely different than how I pictured her in A Girl During the War.  Belle works beside Marina as Bernard sneaks art pieces to Switzerland. The next-door neighbor Carlos becomes a love interest of Marina’s.  He disappears though.  At the end of the bo...

What behind-the-scenes woman do you think is the glue that keeps things together?  There are so many it’s hard to even list.  I have to start with my sisters: one is a speech pathologist for nonverbal autistic pediatric patients, one is a psychologist, and the other is a public health professor. International Woman’s Day is also the book birthday of Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo in which it is the women who are the true fabric of society.  The book is a beast, a book to be reckoned with just like all females.  It’s an allegorical tale inspired by Animal Farm to remind us that power corrupts and changes people with the best of intentions.   In the mythical nation of Jidada the Father of the Nation, Old Horse can’t even stay awake to give a speech.  Yet his wife, Dr. Sweet Mothe r stands by his side fearlessly.  Besides Dr. Sweet, there is the amazing character Destiny.  Destiny Lozikeyi Khumalo is a goat who returns to Jidada to face her traged...