the Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers FIC Mey

      

 This is the story of three women whose lives began to intertwine five years before.  Tia was young and hopelessly in love with Nathan.  When she became pregnant she was sure things would work out for them.  One little problem.  Nathan was a married professor with a wife and two boys and he wasn't going to leave them.  Tia gave the baby up for adoption. 
      Caroline is passionate about her career as a research doctor.  She and her husband weren't able to conceive.  Caroline was fine with leaving things as they were but Peter wanted a baby.  And so they adopted a little girl.
      Juliette was devoted to her husband and two boys.  They came first in her life but she was also working hard with a partner/friend to develop a cosmetic company.  Then her life went spinning out of control when her husband confessed to her that he had had an affair.  (Really, he should have kept it to himself......but then we wouldn't have had the book, would we!)
      So all of  this happened five years ago- so what happens to shake things up?  A picture and a letter send to Nathan but intercepted by Juliette.  Let the fireworks begin.
     I enjoyed the book although I found the characters to be unbelievable in some of their actions. 

The Burning Air by Erin Kelly FIC Kel

 

      I have read several good books lately but this one made me put everything aside so that I could keep reading.  The story begins with Lydia writing in her journal as was her habit. This time, however, it is to write out a confession.  She needs to get it off of her chest even if no one ever sees it.  Lydia is dying, but she hasn't shared the news yet with her family- husband Rowan, daughters Sophie (married with children) and Tara ( an unmarried mother) and her son Felix.   It quickly jumps to almost a year after Lydia's death.  They are all gathering at the family's weekend home (a restored barn) for the first time since the funeral.  Their time together will be disrupted by a figure from the past who is convinced that Lydia was a murderer and who is intent on ruining the family after decades of stalking them.  Interesting characters and some twists along the way.  A good read! 

tapestry of fortunes by Elizabeth Berg FIC Ber

I love Berg's books.  I can always relate in someway to her characters and themes.  Cecilia Ross was happy with her life.  She was a writer and a motivational speaker.  When she wasn't working crazy hours she spent her time with her best friend, Penny, who lived next door with her husband.  One day as they were spending time together Penny accused Cece of being a hypocrite because she told others what to do but didn't follow her own advice.  After a brief argument Cece accuses Penny of not being herself lately.  A few days later Penny was diagnosed with a terminal illness and it didn't take long for the end to come.  Everything has changed for Cece and she knows it is time for a drastic change.  She decides to sell her house and downsize.  Her mother sets her up for an 'interview' to become a roommate in a house with other women.  No way is Cece going down that path but she has to go to appease her mother.  Of course she decides to move in.  All of the women have their own burdens from their pasts and they set out on a road trip to deal with the past.  It was a bit short but I still enjoyed it.

Shouting Won't Help: Why I - and 50 Million Other Americans - Can't Hear You by Katherine Bouton 617.8 Bou

From the time I was little I knew my mom had a 'bad' ear. When eventually her other ear began to fail she started using a hearing aid.  With that and lip reading she got along pretty well.  When macular degeneration took most of her sight it was a whole different thing and I often had to 'translate' what she was told by others.  Hearing loss seemed inevitable and when I visit at The Village I always speak louder than normal.  This book gave me a whole new awareness of deafness.  We are having a hearing loss epidemic in this country and its victims are younger and younger.  Bouton was good at faking her deafness in the left ear for a long time.  But when her right ear began to let her down it became harder and harder.  This book tells about the struggle, the cost and the shame she dealt with.  She was an editor at The New York Times when it happened and the ways in which she tried to cover it up was both ingenious and sad.  She also shares the stories of others.  Hearing loss can happen at any age and can be the result of genetics, illness and all of that loud music we all danced to.  An interesting read if you like non-fiction.

The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood FIC Hoo

I really liked this book.  It was not the usual fare.  The story goes back and forth between Claire at the time of JFK's inauguration and Vivien in 1919.  Of course the two threads come together at the end, but in the meantime I was happy to follow the life of each of these women.  Vivien suffered unrelenting grief after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906.  She could never accept the idea that he died.  An unexpected encounter led her to channel some of her grief into helping others cope with theirs by writing unique obituaries that truly captured the essence of the departed.  Even though I was almost a teenager when JFK took office I was fairly unobservant of the times I lived in.  Reading about Claire's situation back then made me remember that ....we've come a long way baby!  Those women really were expected to be the perfect wife.  It is not a long book but I think it will quickly draw you in and keep you there until the last page.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe 616.994 Sch

This was a very touching book.  Schwalbe tells the story of the last years of his mother's life.  His mother, Mary Anne, led quite the life.  She spent a lot of it working on humanitarian causes in different parts of the world.  Her latest passion was getting libraries in Afghanistan.  When she returned from one of her trips she wasn't feeling well.  Often she would pick up one bug or another on these trips and it might take months for her to return to full-steam.  This time her doctors thought she had a rare hepatitis - but it turned out to be advanced pancreatic cancer.  Mary Anne's husband and children were all very supportive in their own ways.  Will doesn't talk about them much because he believes that is their story to share - or not.  Will and his mom (along with the rest of the family) have always loved and devoured books.  Now while Will goes with his mom for her chemo they naturally talk about books - which is often just another way of talking about their own lives, fears and beliefs.  Some of the books they discuss are ones that I have read.  Some I haven't but are now on a list of books to check out some day.  This book won't appeal to everyone because it doesn't grab you at the beginning and make you want to stay up late reading it - but I liked it.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

In The Dinner by Herman Koch, we first meet the narrator Paul as he waits patiently for his brother to arrive for dinner at an upscale restaurant in Amsterdam.  It is one of those obligatory family get-togethers that neither Paul nor his wife Claire wants to attend but must because, there's something Paul's brother, Serge, wants to discuss.

Serge is a rising political star, a shoo-in to be elected the next prime minister, and when he arrives at the restaurant with his long-suffering wife, Babette, it is with all the pompous fuss and fake smiles Paul has learned to expect and disdain.

The family settles down to a lovely meal, but underneath the veneer of polite small talk, it's clear that something is wrong.  It turns out that Paul's son Michel and Serge's sons Beau and Rick are implicated in a violent act caught on tape. The boys haven't been identified yet by the police, but it's only a matter of time.  So with Serge's political career and the boys' futures hanging in the balance, the brothers and their wives have met to discuss what to do.

Initially Paul appears to be a little eccentric, a little condescending, with maybe a few personality tics, but nothing alarming.  But as the meal progresses we slowly realize that Paul's quirks are more than tics and no one at the table is who they first appeared to be.  As the dinner progresses so does our dawning sense of horror.  

Wonderfully creepy and exceptionally disturbing,  The Dinner is a five-star delight.

Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell (FIC)

In Normandy in 1002, fifteen-year-old Emma, sister of the Duke of Normandy, finds herself married to a much older (and hostile) King of England.  Not only does her new husband treat her with disdain but she is surrounded by a court full of people who consider her an outsider as well as a rival who will take any step to get rid of her.  England at the time is under constant attack from Danish invaders and it is imperative that no one know of Emma's Danish heritage. 

In spite of these difficulties, Emma comes to love the English people - and finds love in the one place she shouldn't.  Just as things appear to be calming down, the Danes attack again and Emma's life is in danger.

I like most historical fiction (Sharon Kay Penman is a favorite) and I would put this novel up there with some of my favorites.  Emma is a well-drawn character who struggles in a court full of intrigue where she is both inexperienced and the outsider.  Her reactions to the people and situations around her seem real and it is possible to see her grow as the novel progresses.

Perhaps the best test of whether I liked this book or not was that it stayed in my thoughts for hours after I finished it.  I know it is the first of a trilogy and I found myself wanting to go on immediately to the next book so that I could see what happens next.