The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (SF Joh)

Kelsea has been raised in isolation with only her foster parents as companions.  She has always known that her mother was Queen Elyssa but all the information she is given ends with that piece of knowledge.

On her nineteenth birthday a company of soldiers arrive on their doorstep to take her away - away from everything she has known and loved (and often hated) - to take up her proper role as Queen of the Tearling.  Proof of her heritage is in the sapphire necklace she has always worn around her neck and the burn on her arm, received when she was sent into exile eighteen years before.

Her arrival in New London, the country's capitol, is not a given as she and her company of Queen's Guards are being pursued by both agents of her uncle, who has been acting as Regent in her absence, and soldiers of the Red Queen, the ancient witch-like ruler of the country just to the north.  But nothing could prepare her for what awaits her when she first enters the city and the decision she makes seemingly spontaneously will guide her actions and those of her kingdom for the rest of the book.  

This book is set in the future (one review said the 24th century) but it is a time remarkably similar to medieval times.  Originally intended as a Utopian society, the residents of the kingdom are now poor and enslaved while the upper class is rich and corrupt.  It is up to Kelsea to deal with all of these issues as well as the Red Queen who longs for even more power.

I remembered reading the reviews for this book and thinking that it was one I would enjoy.  When it came in, however, and we cataloged it as "Science Fiction", I almost passed it by.  I'm glad that I didn't.  While there are elements of magic and sorcery in it they are treated as something completely natural and not sensational.  One of the Queen's Guards has exceptional eyesight, the dashing outlaw who comes to Kelsea's aid must only be thirty - or is he older?  The Red Queen is over 100 years old. All of the fantasy elements only make the book more enjoyable.

This is the first in a trilogy and I am eagerly awaiting books 2 and 3.  Oh, and by the way, Emma Watson of "Harry Potter" fame is set to star in the movie version of the book.

The Care and Management of Lies: A Novel of the Great War by Jacqueline Winspear FIC Win

I have been listening to a lot of Maisie Dobbs books from WILBOR.  This is the newest novel by Winspear and  no Maisie Dobbs.   Although I missed Maisie I did enjoy reading this stand-alone novel.   I especially appreciated it when I found out that it was released in conjunction with the one hundredth year anniversary of the beginning of World War I.  That was a horrible war and it never gets much press!

Kezia and Thea are best friends at school.  When Kezia falls in love with Thea's brother, Thea is happy to know that her friend will be in her family but she has her doubts that Kezia can be a very good farm wife.  Their bond begins to fall apart.  Thea becomes involved in the suffragette movement and Kezia takes on her new 'job title' with a vengeance.  When Tom's friends and employees begin signing up, he feels that he needs to also.  Kezia is left behind to run the farm and to keep Tom entertained with letters of meals she is 'cooking' for him. The food part got a bit much, but I really liked the characters, the mood of the book and the spotlight on that part of history.



  

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah FIC Han

About five years ago I read Firefly Lane.  I couldn't have told you today what it was about but I do remember that I liked the book.  As I listened to the audio book there were references to things that had happened in the past and my memories of the first book came back.  This book begins thirty years after Tully and Kate became best friends.  Kate was married to a great guy, had three children and always, always her friend Tully.  After a terrible childhood, Tully was driven to succeed at her career.  No meaningful relationships with men, Tully was content to rely on Kate's family for some warmth in her life.

When Kate is dying from breast cancer (not a spoiler, you know on the second page that she is gone!), Tully abandons her career to be there.  She promises to look out for the children - especially 16-year-old Marah, her goddaughter.   This is an emotional book.  It takes you into the lives of people who are devastated by a death.  Grief is such a personal thing.  This story shows how difficult it is to share.

Another important part of the book is the story of Tully's mom.  Dorothy, aka Cloud, was a druggy who never took care of Tully and rarely saw her.  Now she wants to come into Tully's life.  Tully's life is spiraling out of control and the only thing that can save her is her dead friend's soul.
 

Coming Clean by Kimberly Miller 306.87 Mil

This book was fascinating to me.   It is a memoir by a woman who is an actress in NYC.  She also writes a blog, articles and of course, this book!  She has a great boyfriend.  Her apartment is in Manhattan and she keeps it looking good.  For years she kept up a façade so that no one would know her secret.  She eventually let some people in on her secret - only because she was desperate for their help.  Her secret?  The homes in which she lived with her loving parents were littered with broken objects, lots of papers and the little remnants of animals living in the squalor.  If you have ever watched a hoarding show on TV you know that there is no easy solution.  Not even a fire, which destroyed everything they owned, could bring about change.

This touching book takes us from the struggles of her childhood to the struggles of her adulthood.  You would think that when Kim is old even she would just walk away from her parents and leave them to deal with the hoarding and the evictions.  But Kim loved her parents and felt a need to help them. It is complicated - that relationship between parents and child.  There are also a few lessons in here about how keeping secrets (or trying to) can take a terrible toll.

I really liked this book! 

Among the Mad: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear MYS Win

   

It is 1931 and the year is just about to end.   Maisie has plans to visit her father when she finishes seeing a client.  Instead she is horrified to see a man commit suicide in the middle of the street.  The next day a threatening letter is sent to the government.  The writer is making demands on behalf of all of the forgotten people who are being ignored by the government.  If something isn't done a lot of people are going to die.  And he mentions Maisie in the letter.  That gets her a quick invitation to visit Scotland Yard.  After the Detective Chief Superintendent is confident that Maisie is not involved (in the letters or the suicide) she becomes an adviser to Scotland Yard.  She doesn't have much time to solve the case before more people will begin to die. 

Birds of a Feather: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear MYS Win

 

I have been "binge reading" Winspear's books.  I found several of her books available through WILBOR and that is my favorite way to read her books.  I have not been reading them in order and it isn't a problem as far as I am concerned.  Reading some of the older books has made me understand her actions in later books.  This book takes place not long after Maisie Dobbs has set up her agency.  It is 1930 but the effects of WWI are still obvious in the population of London.  Add to that the Depression and bad things are going to happen.

Maisie has been investigating a murder but before she can wrap it up she gets called to look for the spoiled daughter of a wealthy man.  It appears she has run away (she is actually an adult, so it is more like she left without notice!) and Joseph Waite feels that it reflects badly on his family name. 

As Maisie begins investigating she finds there is a connection between the two cases.  I love Maisie - a little bit Hercule Poirot and a lot of Miss Marple.  The time era adds to the charm of Winspear's books.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea by Dayton Duncan 333.78 Dun

This is the companion book for a PBS documentary of the same name which was directed by Ken Burns.  It is a spectacular production.  I recently watched it again and was lulled into a place of tranquility.  After I finished it I decided I didn't want the feeling to end.  So I checked out the audio edition.  It is over 15 hours and I thought it might take me a week or so to finish - but I finished it on the third day.  The writing is so wonderful and the story is an important one that I just kept listening every moment I could.  If you are going on a long road trip this would be an excellent choice - but I should warn you that you might change your plans along the way and head to the nearest green space!  Thank heaven for the brave and passionate people who worked so hard to keep these jewels for us.  This book is a wonderful combination of education and entertainment.  Afterwards I checked out the physical books to look at the pictures.

The narration was good - but it would have been better with Dayton reading the whole thing instead of just at the end!

Unlucky 13 by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro MYS Pat

This is the only series in which Patterson is involved that I still read.  I have listened to all of them and find them entertaining.  In the latest installment the main heroine, Lindsay Boxer, is happy being a mother.  But she still wants to be the best detective in the world!  Luckily her husband is happy to do baby duty when Lindsay is busy.  When she receives a picture from the FBI she immediately recognizes the face of Mackie Morales. Morales had been an intern with the department - and doing a little killing on the side.

Lindsay fears for the safety of her friends, her family and herself.  Besides this loose psychopath, someone is putting an explosive in hamburgers which soon explode in the victim's stomach.  On the brighter side, one of her friends is getting married.  The characters are likeable so I always enjoy the stories.

The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir by Dee Williams 640.92 Wil

There are some books that inspire me - and this one did just that.  I got rid of some more 'stuff' that has been hanging around my house.  This woman ended up living in an  eighty-four-square-foot house.  She did some serious downsizing.

Dee had a busy life.  Besides working full-time she spent a lot of time fixing up the house she had bought.  The things she taught herself how to do was amazing.  She loved her house but as we all know,  home ownership is one of those things that keeps on taking......time and money.  How freeing would it be to downsize - both financially and mentally?

When she had a serious health scare at 41 she realized that she wanted to change her priorities.

Enter the idea of a DIY tiny-urban-house.  She had read an article about these houses by a guy who lives in Iowa City.  After calling him and asking some questions she ends up coming to Iowa to talk to him.  It is not a very big structure - how long could it possibly take to build????  A bit longer than she thought.

Her memoir takes us through the trials and tribulations.  And then she tells us about her new home with such wonderful vocabulary that I want one!  Of course I would just put it in my side yard and spend a few hours enjoying the stars or rain and then I would come back inside.  However, the idea of being able to clean a house in 10 minutes and to spend $8 a month on utilities is very appealing.

I loved the book and I loved her (partly because every night she carries her (rather large) dog up the ladder to go to bed).  My kind of person. 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (FIC Bac)

Ove, a 59-year-old Swedish man, is a curmudgeon.  Rigid and set in his ways.  Follows the rules and expects others to follow them, too.  A cheapskate.  In the words of one of the characters, Ove "was the sort of man who, when he was not quite certain where he was going, just carried on walking straight ahead, convinced that the road would eventually fall into line."  And the road did.

Ove may be unbending but he had one great love in his life - his wife, Sonje who passed away six months before the novel opens.  Ove's goal is to join her and over the course of the novel he tries various ways to do just that.  His efforts are thwarted, however, by his new neighbors, Patrick and Parvaneh, and their two daughters.  He tries his best to resist them but finds himself drawn into their lives as they are drawn into his.  And then there's the stray cat that won't leave him alone.  His wife loved cats...

In alternating chapters we learn how Ove became the man he is, the story of his life with Sonje, and just how all those neighbors who thought they knew him so well were so wrong.  Ove's story is funny and heartwarming, heartbreaking and uplifting.  Ultimately it is the story of how one man's life can affect many others, no matter how hard he tries to ignore them.

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian FIC Boh

When the nuclear power plant in Emily Shepherd's northeast Vermont hometown has a meltdown, she finds herself evacuated with the rest of her school -- as well as the other residents of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont -- unable to return home.  Both of her parents worked at the plant, and almost certainly died in the explosion.  Even more upsetting, the speculation is that her father was responsible for the catastrophe, with a history of being drunk at work.  With no siblings and no extended family, she finds herself orphaned and homeless, and afraid for her life as the daughter of the most hated man in America. 

Rather than remaining with her evacuated schoolmates, and taking her chances with the social workers, Emily runs to Burlington.  Now, the teenager is alone and trying to survive while inventing a new identity for herself.  Her life is theft, prostitution, and drug use before she meets Cameron, a young boy who is also living on the streets.  In caring for Cameron, Emily realizes that she can't outrun her past or her grief and returns to the only place she can.

This is not a feel-good book, but it is beautifully written and compelling.

The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger FIC Rie

Sophie Diehl, a young criminal law associate for an old, established New England law firm, gets roped into doing the intake interview for the daughter of the firm's biggest client when all of the partners are away one weekend.  Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim was served divorce papers at a prominent upscale restaurant -- and learned of Dr. Daniel Durkheim's affair with a colleague -- after 18 years of marriage.  Mia is not out for her husband's blood (or money), but wants to humiliate him and even the score.  Sophie warns Mia that she’s never handled a divorce case before, but Mia won't be swayed; she wants Sophie.  As Mia puts it:  It’s her first divorce, too. 

Old family money (Mia's), current and future money (Daniel's, courtesy of a medical degree and prominent career as an oncologist), and custody of the Durkheims' young daughter, Jane, are all sources of contention for the Durkheim's, as well as for Mia's father, Jane's doting grandfather.  Sophie's experience as a criminal attorney colors her responses to the sleazy divorce attorney hired by Dr. Durkheim, cutting through the normal back-and-forth minutia like a sharp blade.  Meanwhile, Sophie finds herself examining her own relationships as a result of the whole affair: with her own divorced parents, her friends, colleagues, lovers, and with herself.

Smart and bitingly funny, this epistolary novel tells the story through emails, memos, personal notes, newspaper articles, and legal documents.  Not quite chick lit, it's an easy, fun read if you're looking for a little bit of brain candy.

Leaving Everything Most Loved: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear MYS Win

This Maisie Dobbs novel takes place in 1933.   A young Indian woman is found shot to death.  Her name is Usha Pramal.  Maisie becomes part of the case when Usha's brother comes to England to find out what happened.  He doesn't feel that Scotland Yard has done a very good job of trying to solve it.   At the time of her death Usha was living in a type of hostel run by a couple 'trying to do good'.  The women who stayed there were all Indian women who had been servants or nannies to British families stationed in India.  When their services were no longer required they were left with no money to return home and few skills.   Usha did not fit into that category.  Although she had been doing menial jobs to earn money while living in the hostel, Maisie finds out that she worked for a family as a teacher.  The plot thickens when another young woman from the hostel is killed in a similar way.

Besides this case Maisie has other problems.  Her lover, James, is going to Canada for business.  He will be gone for several months.  And at the end of that time he wants an answer from Maisie.  Talk about pressure.  She is feeling an overwhelming desire to travel.  When this case wraps up she plans to go to India.

Another easy read with a little mystery, a little romance and an historical background for the action.

Pardonable Lies: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear MYS Win

This is one of the older Maisie Dobbs novels that I had somehow missed.  It was still very readable even if it was out of order!   If you love the 'old-time' detectives who do their solving using
their brains (like Sherlock, Miss Marple and Hercule) you will enjoy this series.  Maisie is part detective and part psychologist.  Her new case is an odd one.  She has been asked to prove that someone is dead.
 
Before Agnes Lawton died, she tried everything possible to find out about her son who was supposedly killed in the war.  She engaged the services of several psychic mediums and was convinced that he had not died.  On her deathbed she begged her husband to grant one final wish - to find out what happened to him.  The father, Sir Cecil Lawton,  does not believe that his son is alive but feels compelled to grant that dying wish.
   
This case will take Maisie back to France where she will have to face the demons of war that still haunt her.  An easy read with a great heroine.  The backdrop of post WWI Europe makes these cases even more interesting to me.
   (I listened to the audiobook and it was great.)