Lila by Marilynne Robinson (FIC Rob)

Sometimes old men do foolish things, says the Rev. John Ames.  And according to his small congregation, he has.  

At 67, long-time widower Rev. Ames has reconciled himself to loneliness. Then one Sunday morning a young woman escapes the rain by stepping inside his small church. It's Lila, a woman with an old knife and a hidden past.

Their ensuing marriage seems as strange as it is unexpected to the people of Gilead, Iowa.  Perhaps the one most surprised of all is Rev. Ames.

Lila has barely survived the Great Depression. Her make-shift family is dead or gone, and Lila is alone when she stumbles into Gilead.  She plans to rest awhile then move on. Then a rainstorm hits, and she stops for a minute in a church.

Marilynne Robinson is my favorite Iowa author and I loved her Pulitzer Prize winning (and 2006 All Iowa Reads selection) novel Gilead and then Home.  These three books are interconnected, but you can read Lila as a stand-alone.

I can't resist a story with two misfits who find unexpected happiness together, and I love these complicated, yet ordinary characters. Add Robinson's precise writing and careful storytelling, and this book easily makes my personal "Best Books of 2014" list.

2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino (FIC Ber)

It is 7:00 a.m. in Philadelphia and two days before Christmas.  Madeleine Altimari, who will be ten in two days, wants to be a jazz singer.  Her mother has recently died and her father, immobilized with grief, is barely able to function.  Her classmates make fun of her and her principal has expelled her for reasons Madeleine isn't sure of.

Sarina Greene, Madeleine's art teacher, has recently returned to her hometown following her divorce.  She is nervously looking forward to a reunion that evening with former classmates.  One of the guests will be Ben, her high school crush who took her on a disastrous date to their prom.

Across town, Jack Lorca wakes up in a drunken haze.  Owner of The Cat's Pajamas, a renowned jazz club, he is faced with multiple violations of the city code for underage drinking, pyrotechnics and other indiscretions.  He must come up with $30,000...and seriously change his ways.

Over the course of the next 24 hours these three people (and a variety of others) make their way to The Cat's Pajamas where, improbable as it may seem, Madeleine's dream comes true.  Lives are changed, people reconcile,  and new directions are taken.  Not all ends happily for everyone but as 7:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve dawns there is hope.

It's hard to resist a story about a motherless child struggling to find her way.  Similar in some ways to The Secret Life of Bees, this story tugged at my heart and had me racing through the pages so that I could find out what happened.  Madeleine is not a model child but she is still sympathetic.  The book is relatively short with short chapters but even so the author managed to make all of the characters (even the unlikable Principal Randles) seem real.  Not all the ends are tied up neatly but there is hope for all of the characters.

You won't be sorry if you invest your time reading this book - you might even want to visit Philadelphia and its jazz clubs.

Gutenberg's Apprentice by Alix Christie (FIC Chr)

In 1450, Peter Schoeffer is called home from the beginnings of a promising career as a scribe in Paris by his foster father who wants Peter to meet a "most amazing man."  Peter is not happy and is, in fact, resentful at this intrusion into the life he saw himself leading.  When he finds out what his father has in mind for him, he is even more upset.  For his father, Johann Fust, wants him to work as an apprentice (an apprentice!) for Johann Gutenberg, his new business partner, as he prepares to use the first printing press.


As someone dedicated to the beauty and wonder of writing, this new invention at first horrifies Peter.  Gradually as the years progress he begins to see the benefits of this new system and even comes to see it as a sign of God's divine providence.

Gutenberg is a hard man to work for and it is even harder for Peter to navigate the paths between the two men.  As the project drags slowly forward and Fust is called upon to supply more and more money tension between the two mounts. 

In order to reach their goal - 180 copies of a uniformly printed Bible - they must work in secret.  All around them are suspicious, from the Church to the craft guilds that control the city.  And then the worst happens - Constantinople falls to the Infidel and it seems that the project will never be completed.

Only Peter, or so it seems to him, sees the real possibility of this new invention.

I enjoyed reading this book a great deal.  As the book progressed, Peter became more and more sympathetic and Gutenberg less so.  The dimensions of this man's personality were many and it was hard to tell what he was more interested in - creating a new process or making money.  Fust's motives were much clearer - making money was the ultimate goal.  What was always in question as I read this book was whether the Bible would actually be completed.  Even though I knew the answer to that question I found myself reading faster and faster as the book progressed just to make sure that history really did happen.

A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon FIC Dil

Gina Bellamy, divorcing from Stuart as we meet her, is moving from the couple's multi-room house to a much-smaller apartment.  Her soon-to-be ex-husband has moved in with his girlfriend and apparently wants virtually none of the household possessions.  This leaves Gina with an apartment packed full, floor to ceiling, of boxes containing all the miscellany that accumulates in some 30-plus years of life.

Daunted and reeling, Gina sets herself the task of combing through the boxes by her birthday and -- even more challenging -- of keeping only 100 items that truly make her happy.  Old love letters?  A glass vase that perfectly catches the light?  A memento of the father she barely remembers?

I thoroughly enjoyed this fairly light read.  Told in present tense and in flashbacks, we get to know Gina and the people and events that have made her who she is.  Full of likable characters -- well, mostly -- I had a hard time putting this book down.  And, it inspired me to clear out some of the clutter I've accumulated!  Okay, just one closet, but it's a start.

Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer FIC Tim

   

A GREAT book!   At the beginning of this book 'five days left' has different meanings for Scott Coffman in Michigan and Mara Nichols, living thousands of miles away.  For Scott it means Curtis will no longer be in his life.  During the past year Scott and his wife opened their home to this young boy (the brother of one of Scott's former students).  Now in five days Curtis's mother will be taking him back after spending a year in prison.  Scott has bonded deeply with Curtis and can't stand the idea of him leaving.  His wife, on the other hand, is ready for him to leave so that she and Scott can enjoy a few months alone before they welcome their long-awaited daughter to be born.

For Mara 'five days left' means that after that she will be dead. She sees suicide as the only way out of a terrible situation even if it means leaving her adopted daughter and her loving husband.   What do these two have in common?  A forum on the internet.  The focus of the forum is parents who are fostering or have adopted children.  Some participants have come and gone over the past year but there is a core group that have continued to check in every day and support each other.

Hard to believe this is a debut novel!  It pulled me in from the beginning and left me like jello left out on a hot day at the end.  Might be a good idea to have some Kleenex around - just saying.

Internal Medicine by Terrence Holt 616 Hol

I enjoyed this look into the hospital stories as seen through the eyes of a resident.  It was another reminder that you really don't want to go into the hospital when the residents are brand new!
Thank heaven for competent nurses and techs.  And how can anyone be expected to practice medicine when they are sleep deprived???  Back to the book -  it is made up of chapters which are glimpses into what it takes to become a doctor.  These are touching stories - what to tell the family when there is bad news, how far to go for someone who isn't going to make it, watching a hospice patient in the final days.  Holt also writes a lot about the families of these patients (and there is a message there for anyone who hasn't made it clear to their families what they want in a medical situation!!!!!!  Do it today.)
   

Friendswood by René Steinke FIC Set

 

The town of Friendswood Texas has always been a rather typical small town.  Neighborhood get-togethers and Friday night football are an important part of life.  But they live near oil and chemicals. It affects most of the people one way or another.  This story follows the lives of four of these families.

It begins with Lee.  She had a wonderful life - until she had to watch her daughter die from cancer.  When the first signs of dangers appeared in their town they moved from their neighborhood to a 'safer' house.  But it was too late.  So for years she has fought to get her community to see the dangers that are still around them.  She sneaks into quarantined areas to get soil samples and bugs the government.  But no one wants to listen,  they want to keep going with their lives and making money.   Hal, a former football star, is trying to keep a floundering real estate business going.  He is more worried about selling a house than about the health of his clients.  The other two main characters are teens.

It is an interesting book with many layers to it.  I will say that I would have liked an ending that wrapped everything up with no questions unanswered.  But I did like the book.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult FIC Pic

   

It is always a long wait for a new Picoult book - but it is always so worth it!  A wonderful story told through the voices of several characters.

The main one is Jenna.  She is a teenager who lives with her grandmother.  Her father is in an institution living in his own world.  When Jenna visits him he thinks she is her mother, Alice.  Alice was a scientist who studied the grieving of elephants in Africa.  After falling in love and becoming pregnant she moves back to the States to join her husband at an elephant sanctuary.
When Jenna is a toddler there is a tragic death and her mom disappears.  Jenna has never been able to accept the idea that her mother abandoned her.  She spends hours on the internet looking for clues to where her mother might be.  Her hunt intensifies with the help of two odd characters.  Serenity is a psychic who was highly successful in finding missing people and connecting with the dead.  When she tries to shield a family from bad news she falls from grace and loses her ability to connect with the dead.  She has been laying low and earning money by being a sham psychic.  Virgil was part of the original investigation into the accident.  Now he is also laying low and spends most of his time in a drunken stupor.

The story also includes excerpts from Alice's research journals.  You will learn a lot about elephants and I dare you not to get a bit teary from reading those stories!  I didn't see the ending coming.......

This story touches on many universal themes and is sure to make you a fan if you aren't already.
Can't wait until next year's novel!!!

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure FIC Bel

 

I love reading about WWII but normally I prefer to read non-fiction about this era because no novel is as compelling as what really happened.  That being said I did enjoy this novel.

The main character is Lucien Bernard who is of course the Paris Architect!  He is not a likable guy.  He is married but is a lot more interested in his mistress Adèle, a dress designer who hangs out with a lot of Nazis.  That doesn't bother Lucien - he only cares about architecture.  He is thrilled when he is offered a contract to design some factories for the Germans - factories that will be used against his country.  His wife is angry and scared of what will become of them because her husband is a collaborator.  The Germans don't pay well but that is not a problem when Lucien is approached to do a special project for a wealthy man named Manet.  He wants Lucien to design a fool-proof hiding place for a Jewish man.  Lucien does it for the money - not to help another human being. As he gets deeper into helping Manet he begins to change his focus.

Although this is a book of fiction it of course reflects those true stories of people who did extraordinary things for people they didn't even know - it was just the right thing to do.

The Politics of Washing: Real Life in Venice by Polly Coles 945.11 Col

 

If you watch House Hunters International you have seen a lot of people who decide to retire to a place that they visited in the past.  They have an idealized picture of what it will be like to live in this paradise.  After three months they visit the happy couple who are enjoying their new lives.  This book is like one of those stories but with a little more truth in it I think!   Polly Coles and her husband leave England behind to move to Venice.  And they also have four young children.  Venice is a beautiful city with so much history.  But reading about their arrival to their new home was a nightmare.  One of their children had hurt her leg.  So Polly is trying to wrangle all the children and luggage - and remember you can't drive to Venice!!  This memoir is a great look into what people face when they change cultures.  It reminds people that no place is ideal on a permanent basis.

So it was entertaining to read about all of their challenges.  But it was sad to read about Venice.  Venice is a city of tourists.  Living there is not like visiting there.  The tourists can be quite annoying. And the true fabric of Venice is fading away because of the new economic realities.

A quick read that I believe anyone would enjoy.  If you have ever visited Venice or plan to I highly recommend it.

The Silent Sister FIC Cha

 

I have read several of Ms. Chamberlain's books but this is by far my favorite.  I woke up at 6 this morning and got up so that I could finish the book and find out what happened!  The book begins with a brief prologue which tells us that a 17 year old girl committed suicide in a cold icy river.  The townspeople are upset that she has escaped facing her trial for murder.  Then the story fast forwards 23 years to the life of Riley MacPherson.  She is heading back to her hometown to clean out her father's house.  On the way she stops in a small town at the post office because of a post card she received among the mail forwarded from her dad's house.  She is sure there has been a mix-up because it has to do with a post office box that has to be paid for or it will be closed. The name on the box was not her father's.  She takes the one piece of mail and continues on her journey.

Riley is feeling very alone in the world.  Her mom died of cancer right after she graduated from high school. Now her father is gone.  Her sister Lisa had committed suicide 23 years before because of depression - or so she had been told all of her life.  So now she only has her brother, Danny.  She always adored him even when he became so surly and angry as a teenager.  After an injury in Iraq he has become an alcoholic loner and he wants nothing to do with helping Riley with the house.

As Riley begins the process of closing down her father's life she discovers she really didn't know what was going on in his life.  It is a fast-paced book as Riley tries to make sense of things that make no sense.