Confessions of a Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2001
Pages: 320
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is, she can't actually afford it - not any of it. Her job writing at Successful Saving magazine not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from the bank - letters with large sums she can't bear to read. She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Her only consolation is to buy herself something, just a little something.

Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-pages article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life - and the lives of those around her - forever.

Review: I hadn't read this series when it was a popular years ago, but with the author's recent death, I decided to give it a shot. It was cute and funny and expected, but boy did Becky stress me out. I wanted to be her financial coach.

The Girl from the Garden

Author: Parnaz Foroutan
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2015
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: For all his wealth and success, Asher Malacouti - the head of a prosperous Jewish family living in the Iranian town of Kermanshah - cannot have the one thing he desires above all: a male son. His young wife Rakhel trapped in an oppressive marriage at a time when a woman's worth is measured by her fertility, is made desperate by her failure to conceive, and grows jealous and vindictive.

Her despair is compounded by her sister-in-law Khorsheed's pregnancy and her husband's growing desire for Kokab, his cousin's wife. Frustrated by his wife's inability to bear him an heir, Asher makes a fateful choice that will shatter the household and drive Rakhel to dark extremes to save herself and preserve her status within the family.

Witnessed through the memories of the family's only surviving daughter, Mahboubeh, now an elderly woman living in Los Angeles, The Girl from the Garden unfolds the complex, tragic history of her family in a long-lost Iran of generations past. Haunting, suspenseful, and inspired by events in the author's own family, it is an evocative and poignant exploration of sacrifice, betrayal, and the indelible legacy of the families that forge us.

Review: I don't know what it is about this time of year, but I seem to find myself reading books set in the Middle East in December. For example, When the Apricots Bloom.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about The Girl from the Garden. Dark themes, unlikeable characters, a shifting timeline, and unrelated to the story, long chapters. However, this is a book that grow on you. It's one I considered quitting, but I felt a pull. Chapters 11 and 12 are the reward for reading chapters 1-10. What an amazing story that I won't soon forget.

If you're like me, you may be curious about what parts of this story are autobiographical of Foroutan's family. I googled and came across this video. The interview is interesting, but if you want to hear her speak about this book specifically, start at the 19:18 minute mark.

The Maytrees

Author: Annie Dillard
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007
Pages:  240
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Toby Maytree first sees Lou Bigelow on her bicycle in postwar Provincetown, Massachusetts. Her laughter and loveliness catch his breath. Maytree is a Provincetown native, an educated poet of thirty. As he courts Lou, just out of college, her stillness draws him. Hands-off, he hides his serious wooing, and idly shows her his poems.

In spare, elegant prose, Dillard traces the Maytrees' decades of loving and longing. They live cheaply among the nonconformist artists and writers that the bare tip of Cape Cod attracts. Lou takes up painting. When their son Peter appears, their innocent Bohemian friend Deary helps care for him. These people are all loving and ironic. Theirs is a simple and bold story.

Review: I'm confident that had I tried reading the print version of this book, I would not have been able to finish it. That said, unfortunately the narrator, David Rasche, did nothing to enhance the audiobook version of this novel. I am giving this two stars simply because I finished it.

6:40 to Montreal

Author: Eva Jurczyk
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Agatha's husband has bought her a first-class ticket on the scenic, six hour train from Toronto to Montreal as a gift - a one day writing retreat so that she can get some serious work done on her new book, a highly - anticipated follow-up to Agatha's runaway bestseller debut novel. The first-class car is the perfect place to be productive, with only a handful of other passengers, plenty of snacks and drinks, and beautiful views flying by outside the window.

But Agatha has other plans for her day out. . .plans that are unexpectedly derailed when the train breaks down in the middle of the frigid Canadian woods and one of Agatha's fellow passengers dies quietly in his seat. Soon, a pleasant morning in transit turns into a fight for survival against an unknown and unseen enemy. Will Agatha, or any of the passengers, make it out alive? 

Review: I'll preface this review by saying that I have not read Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. I'll also add that it doesn't seem like most readers love this book, but I liked it. It's not the most thriller-y of stories, but I kept turning pages. Coincidentally, it takes place the week between Christmas and New Year's so this was a timely novel.

Mary Colter: Builder Upon the Red Earth

Author: Virginia L.Grattan
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Grand Canyon Association
Pages: 132
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: An architect for the Santa Fe Railway and the Fred Harvey Company, Colter laid the groundwork for female architects who followed. Seven of her remarkable structures are preserved in Grand Canyon's historic district. This is her story.

Review: I read about Mary Colter in the Harvey Girl books that I read recently. I was surprised to see a book written about her. She left her mark in the Southwest at a time when women didn't make a name for themselves in the history books. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I visited Desert View Watchtower at Grand Canyon National Park, a site Colter created in 1932.

Doomed Queen Anne

Author: Carolyn Meyer
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2004
Pages: 240
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Though born without great beauty, wealth, or title, Anne Boleyn blossomed into a captivating woman. She used her wiles to win the heart of England's most powerful man, King Henry VIII, and persuade him to defy everyone - including his own wife - to make her his new queen. But Anne's ambition was her fata flaw. 

Review: I am going to refer to 2025 as "The Year of Carolyn Meyer" even though I just discovered this author last month. I am on a mission to read all of her books. She writes interesting books about interesting people that, up to this point, I wasn't really interested.

Queen Anne was introduced in Mary, Bloody Mary and I enjoyed reading her perspective. She was a wily one.

Other Carolyn Meyer Novels
Cleopatra Confesses
Diary of a Waitress: The Not-So-Glamorous Life of a Harvey Girl
In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story
Mary, Bloody Mary
The Bad Queen

History Matters

Author: David McCullough
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2025
Pages: 192
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Rich with McCullough's signature grace, curiosity, and narrative gifts, these essays offer vital lessons in viewing history through the eyes of its participants, a perspective that McCullough believed was crucial to understanding the present as well as the past. History Matters is a testament to McCullough's legacy as one of the great storytellers of this nation's history and of the last promise of American ideals.

Review: Having read several of David McCullough's books, this gave greater insight into McCullough as a person and his writing process. It's a short read that I found interesting.

David McCullough Books
The Johnstown Flood
The Pioneers
Truman

The Rosie Project

Author: Graeme Simsion
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: S&S / Marysue Rucci Books, 2014
Pages: 320
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The art of love is never a science: meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who's decided it's time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs The Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.

Rose Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate on The Wife Project (even if she is "quite intelligent for a barmaid"). But Don is intrigued by Rosie's own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie - and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don't find love, it finds you.

Review: In some ways this novel reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Once you give yourself over to the quirky characters, it is enjoyable reading (or listening). I opted to listen.

This was a hot book when it was first published, but I didn't jump on the bandwagon then. I'm glad I gave it a chance when I saw it on the audiobook shelf at my local library. 

Cleopatra Confesses

Author: Carolyn Meyer
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2011
Pages: 304
Rating: Recommend
 

Synopsis: It is the first century B.C. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh's six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious, and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history's most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely - herself.

Review: I've never thought of myself particularly interested in Egyptian history, but I did take two years of it in college. I like to say it's because I figured out how to get As from that professor. However, there might be more to it than that, because I flew through this book. 

Almost more interesting than Cleopatra herself, and she was interesting, are the times in which she lived.

This is another highly readable Carolyn Meyer novel. I only wish she would have gone into more detail about Cleopatra and Mark Antony's relationship. Once again, this is a novel written for ages 12-18, but adults should give it a chance.

Other Carolyn Meyer Novels:
In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story
Diary of a Waitress: The Not-So-Glamorous Life of a Harvey Girl
Doomed Queen Anne
Mary, Bloody Mary
The Bad Queen

The Bad Queen

Author: Carolyn Meyer
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2011
Pages: 430
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: From the moment she was betrothed to the dauphin of France at age fourteen, perfection was demanded of Marie-Antoinette. Desperate for affection and subjected to constant scrutiny, the spirited young woman can't help but want to let loose with elaborate parties, scandalous fashions, and even a forbidden love affair. Meanwhile, the peasants of France are suffering from increasing poverty and becoming outraged. They want to make the queen pay for her reckless extravagance with her life.

Review:  Old European monarchs aren't of particular interest to me, or perhaps I should say, until I discovered Carolyn Meyer's novels, they weren't. I knew of Marie-Antoinette, but had not spent any time learning about her. She was a name in the history book.

This novel was so fascinating. I have quite a few books to read yet to meet my reading goal for the year, but I have no regrets starting a 400+ page novel this late in the year. It held my interest and I read it quickly. I came away feeling for sad and sorry for Marie-Antoinette and her family. They deserved better than what they received.

The book jacket indicates that this was written for 7th to 9th graders, but I disagree in some respects. While the writing is easy, some topics / themes are better suited to older high school. It also begs the question, why was so much time spent on the consummation of Marie-Antoinette and Louis' marriage, or rather the lack of consummation. Seems like an odd detail on which to be focused.

Other Carolyn Meyer Novels:
Cleopatra Confesses
Diary of a Waitress: The Not-So-Glamorous Life of a Harvey Girl
Doomed Queen Anne
In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story
Mary, Bloody Mary

Mary, Bloody Mary

Author: Carolyn Meyer
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001
Pages: 240
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The story of Mary Tudor's childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is to inherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by an evil stepmother who has enchanted her father; stripped of her title; and forced to care for her baby stepsister, who inherits Mary's right to the throne. Believe it or not, it's all true.

Told in the voice of the young Mary, this novel explores the history and intrigue of the dramatic rule of Henry VIII, his outrageous affair with and marriage to the bewitching Anne Boleyn, and the consequences of that relationship for his firstborn daughter.

Review: I just love this author for historical biographies. My mother was fascinated with the history of the royal family, and so on principle, I was not ☺However, as it turns out my husband has this same interest and he talks about his novels enough that I found myself sort of interesting. I liked Mary, Bloody Mary because it was "Tudor-lite." It's a crazy family, and because this novel is written for the middle to high school set, it wasn't a deep dive into the family. Perfect for someone who wants to dapple and not know too much.

Other Carolyn Meyer Novels:
Cleopatra Confesses
Diary of a Waitress: The Not-So-Glamorous Life of a Harvey Girl
Doomed Queen Anne
In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story
The Bad Queen