Friday, September 8, 2017

The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott

The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott

When things go terribly wrong at the local air show, Ava miraculously heals the mortal wounds of her best friend, Wash.  And then her life is never the same.  Everyone in the world it seems wants and expects the healing services of the young Ava.

The tiny town of Stone Temple becomes overrun with people wanting to catch a glimpse of Ava.  Her father, Macon, the town sheriff, does his best to protect her as does her best friend, Wash.  But using her gift of healing is killing her.  No one seems to know how to help her.

Ava and Wash are two of the cutest and most lovable characters I've run across in a long time.  They are young and sometimes naive, sweet and kind.  I loved them.  And I hated all the people who came to exploit them for their own personal gains.  I did a lot of yelling at this book because of their selfishness.  For me, if I feel emotional reading a book, it's a pretty good book.

The ending left me hanging and I wasn't crazy about that.  I wanted Ava and Wash to go back to their young lives of reading books, hiking through the North Carolina woods and just being kids exploring life.  I wanted all the heartache in their lives to be healed.  Because they deserved it.

The Wonder of All Things checked a lot of my boxes in reviewing a book.  Lovable characters, check.  Creating emotions, check.   Great prose, check.  A memorable story, check. An author I will read again, check.




Sunday, September 3, 2017

My Life With Bob by Pamela Paul

My Life with Bob by Pamela Paul

I really, really, really wanted to love this book.  Just based on the title, I should have been able to read one paragraph and be hooked on every word until the end.  Bob, is the author's Book of Books, a carefully guarded and respected listing of every book she's read since being a teenager.

I know plenty of people who keep this kind of a list.  I consider this blog my list of books and maybe I should start referring to it as my "Blob", a blog of books.  Since I took over leading my book club, I also have a rather long list of books the group should consider reading and I find myself adding to it regularly.  I've become obsessed with finding the perfect book for us to discuss.

Bob appears to be a very well rounded collection of books, about three quarters of which, I had never heard of.  And I read a lot.  Her choice of books were more obscure, and very few contemporary titles of which I am fond.  Book selection is highly personal.  But when she tried to relate her book choices to what was happening in her life, I got lost.  One minute she was living in Thailand and the next, she was married and had moved to London.  The books she read in the throws of divorce seemed to me like all the other books she read.  Suddenly she's reading The Hunger Games while breast feeding her third child.  When did she get married again and give birth to the first two children?  The story lacked consistency and cohesion.

When she absolutely had to read Les Miserables after the Paris terror attacks, I felt I'd had enough.  In trying to make connections of books to living real life, she was grasping at straws.  She did say however, that there is not another book list in the world exactly like hers, in the order she read them.  I can relate to that and I hope my Blob is conveying my feelings of my book choices in a manner that makes sense to me and entertains you.  If it isn't will you please let me know before I fall into a trap like My Life With Bob?

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Mary North lives a life a privilege in London as the Germans are approaching during WWII.  Being young and desperate not to repeat her mother's unfulfilled existence, she signs up to volunteer at the War Office.  She's sent to teach, but when the children are sent to the countryside and the other teachers dismiss Mary's unconventional style, she finds herself without a purpose once again.

She meets Tom Shaw, the school's superintendent and their love affair immediately begins.  Tom's roommate, Alistair Heath enlists and the war suddenly becomes all too real.  This is a story of war, raw and painful, emotionally as well as physically.  Chris Cleave leaves it all on the table.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven is a realistic tale of the pain and heartbreak of war.  Mary and Tom and Alistair are wonderful characters that a reader can't help but care for.  How each of them deals with the obstacles they are facing leaves us deeply entrenched in their bomb riddled world.  

Lately I've been fascinated with stories of World War II.  So if I've been reading too many of them for your taste, please forgive me.  I'm hooked.  Everyone Brave is Forgiven is a well written love story set in the confines of war.  But it's one you will never forget for it's portrayal of a perilous time and for it's rendering of love of all kinds.

Splintered Silence by Susan Furlong

Splintered Silence by Susan Furlong First off I have to say I happened on this book by chance.  My sister's name is Susan Leigh Furl...