Ravel

Author: Jean Echenoz
Genre: Biography
Publisher: The New Press, 2005
Pages: 117
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Ravel is a beguiling and original evocation of the last ten years in the life of the musical genius Ravel, written by novelist Jean Echenoz.

The book opens in 1928 as Maurice Ravel - dandy, eccentric, curmudgeon - cross the Atlantic aboard the luxury liner the SS France to begin his triumphant grand tour of the United States. A "master magician of the French novel: (The Washington Post), Echenoz captures the folly of the era as well as its genius, including Ravel's personal life - sartorially and socially splendid - as well as his most successful compositions from 1927 to 1937. 

Illuminated by flashes of Echenoz's characteristically sly humor, Ravel is a delightfully quirky portrait of a famous musician coping with the ups and downs of his illustrious career. It is also a beautifully written novel that's a deeply touching farewell to a dignified and lonely man going reluctantly into the night. 

Review: I don't know why the shortest books are often the longest to read. At only 117 pages, I should have been able to blow right through this novel, but no. It took a week at a chapter a day. There were interesting parts, and even parts that made me giggle, but as a whole, boring. Why?

I found this during a rare opportunity to browse library bookshelves. Typically I request books online, and just stop at the library's front desk to pick up my latest stack of holds.

The Dream Daughter

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2018
Pages: 384
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: When Carly Sears, a young woman widowed by the Vietnam War, receives the news that her unborn baby has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and she is told that nothing can be done to help her child. But her brother-in-law, a physicist with a mysterious past, tells her that perhaps there is a way to save her baby. What he suggests is something that will shatter ever preconceived notion that Carly has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage she never knew existed. Something that will mean an unimaginable leap of faith on Carly's part.

And all for the love of her unborn child.

The Dream Daughter is a rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundary of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget.

Review: Diane Chamberlain is one of my go-to authors because she doesn't disappoint. The Dream Daughter captured my attention in the prologue, and it was hard to put down. 

This is my new favorite Diane Chamberlain novel. I loved it so much, and I read the last few chapters slowly, not wanting to leave this characters behind.

Time travel is a new theme for Chamberlain, and also not something I typically buy into, but she pulled it off masterfully.

I'm finding out I really enjoy reading books set in the 1970s as well. Check out Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone for another.

Other Books by Diane Chamberlain:
The Stolen Marriage
Reflection
Summer's Child
Necessary Lies

She Can Run

Author: Melinda Leigh
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Amazon Publishing, 2011
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Elizabeth was a young widow with two small children when she met Congressman Richard Baker. Handsome and wealthy, with a sparkling public image, Richard seemed like the perfect man to provide the security that Beth and her kids were craving. But when she uncovers a dangerous secret about her new husband, Beth realizes he will go to any lengths—even murder—to keep it. After barely escaping with her life, she and her children flee. They eventually make their way to a secluded estate in the Pennsylvania countryside, where Beth dares to hope she has found a safe place at last…

Forced into retirement by an unexpected injury, Philadelphia homicide detective Jack O’Malley is mourning the loss of his career when his uncle abruptly dies, leaving Jack to dispose of his crumbling country house. Unbeknownst to him, his uncle engaged a caretaker just before his death, a mysterious woman with two children and a beautiful face that haunts his dreams. Determined to know her, Jack begins an investigation into Beth’s past. When he uncovers the shocking truth, and a local woman is viciously murdered, Jack puts his own life on the line to keep Beth and her children safe.

A 2012 International Thriller Award nominee for Best First Novel, She Can Run is a sexy, satisfying debut from award-winning author Melinda Leigh, packed with enough suspense and romance to get even the tamest heart racing!

Review: If this was the first book I read by this author, I probably would not think she was one of the best authors of thrillers that I've ever read, BUT, it is not. I started reading her Morgan Dane series this summer, and loved it. When I exhausted that series, I decided to try this one.

I was not surprised to learn She Can Run was the first novel this author had published. She's grown as an author, which I love. However, I can appreciate the criticism I've read about this book, but I still enjoyed it. Something about Leigh's storytelling just pulls me right in. I've already requested the second book in this series, She Can Tell.

The War Outside

Author: Monica Hesse
Genre: Historical Fiction / Young Adult
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018
Pages: 336
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: It's 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado—until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan.

Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a "family internment camp" for those accused of colluding with the enemy. The teens discover that they are polar opposites in so many ways, except for one that seems to override all the others: the camp is changing them, day by day and piece by piece. Haruko finds herself consumed by fear for her soldier brother and distrust of her father, who she knows is keeping something from her. And Margot is doing everything she can to keep her family whole as her mother's health deteriorates and her rational, patriotic father becomes a man who distrusts America and fraternizes with Nazis.

With everything around them falling apart, Margot and Haruko find solace in their growing, secret friendship. But in a prison the government has deemed full of spies, can they trust anyone—even each other?

Review: Marketed toward those in the 12-17 year old range, this is written in a style more suited to older children, but the plot would be more compelling to those on the younger side of that range. It's an odd mix. 

I like young adult historical fiction, and factually speaking, I did learn something from this novel. I knew Japanese-Americans had been sent to concentration camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but I was unaware that Germans were also imprisoned. Since that was all I took away from this novel, you can skip it since I just told you everything I learned. 

The plot wasn't exciting or compelling. Some of the supporting characters were unexplained and seemed out of place. This isn't one that I'd try to convince my own (nearly) 12 year old that she should read.

Meghan: A Hollywood Princess

Author: Andrew Morton
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2018
Pages: 272
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Women who smash the royal mold have always fascinated the public, from Grace Kelly to Pricess Diana. Now acclaimed royal biographer Andrew Morton, the New York Times bestselling author of Diana: Her True Story, brings us a revealing, juicy, and inspiring look at Meghan Markle, the confident and charismatic duchess whose warm and affectionate engagement interview won the hearts of the world.

When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date in July 2016, little did they know that the resulting whirlwind romance would lead to their engagement in November 2017 and marriage in May 2018.

Morton goes back to Meghan's roots to uncover the story of her childhood growing up in The Valley in Los Angeles, her studies at an all-girls Catholic school, and her fraught family life-a painful experience mirrored by Henry's own background. Morton also delves into her previous marriage and divorce in 2013, her struggles in Hollywood as her mixed heritage was used against her, her big break in the hit TV show Suits, and her work for a humanitarian ambassador-the latter so reminiscent of Princess Diana's passions. Finally we see how the royal romance played out across two continents but was fiercely kept secret, before the news finally broke and Meghan was thrust into the global media's spotlight.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with her family members and closest friends, and including never-before-seen photographs, Morton introduces us to the real Meghan as he reflects on the impact that she has already had on the rigid traditions of the House of Windsor, as well as what the future might hold.

Review: I'm a huge Kate Middleton fan, but I want to love Meghan too. However, this book did her no favors. Morton didn't always show her in the most favorable light, and while I give Meghan props for climbing as she did, she hurt a lot of people in the process.

As only 272 pages, this should have been a fast read, and some chapters were. Overall, I give this five yawns ;-)

Pachinko

Author: Min Jin Lee
Genre: Historical Fiction / Family Saga
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2017
Pages: 512 (18 discs)
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant—and that her lover is married—she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters—strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis—survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

Review: I enjoy family sagas, and also hope to hit 20,000 pages read this year so this seemed like a win/win. I listened to the audio because it is such a thick, heavy book, and toting it around with me would be cumbersome.

The family saga side of this was rather bland. Lots of bad things happened, but occasionally something good came along, not unlike real life, I suppose, but does it make for the best reading? I'm not sure. 

Sunja was also maddeningly stubborn at times, and with my 2018 view of the world, it was hard to understand her point of view. Her sons seems stereotyped, one does very well in school; the other does not. One is pensive and thoughtful, the other is a fighter and a reactionary. 

I didn't love the narrator, but once I got used to her voice and the author's writing style, I found it didn't bother me as much and wasn't so distracting. There were chapters of this that I liked, and characters too, but as a whole, it was tedious. I was glad when it ended.

At the end of the day, I don't think I'll read another novel by this author.

For, what I think is better reading about Asian culture, check out Lisa See instead.