My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (FIC Bac)

Elsa is almost eight when her beloved Granny dies.  Bullied and teased at school because she is different (she is), Granny was not just Elsa's best friend but her only friend.  Granny might have been crazy (like firing paintballs at the neighbors crazy) and fearless but she also introduced Elsa to the Land-of-Almost-Awake.  It is to this land of fairy tales that Elsa and Granny escaped at night.  A land where no one needs to be normal and everybody is different.

When Granny dies, she leaves a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged and asks Elsa to deliver them to the other residents of their apartment building.  In doing so, Elsa learns not just about the other people in the building - from The Monster to the woman who wears black skirts to the boy with a syndrome and his mother - but also about Granny.  In the process she also learns more about the Land-of-Almost-Awake and its origins.

Elsa is a precocious child, smart beyond her years and completely sympathetic.  I cried throughout the book but I don't want to leave the impression that it is a sad book.  Far from it.  I laughed every time Elsa turned to Wikipedia for help or when she and one of her neighbors (and now friend) bickered.  Her fascination with all things Harry Potter rang true, down to her obsession with her Gryffindor scarf.  And who but Elsa would think that a giant dog (a "wurse" in the Land-of-Almost Awake) actually understood her when she told it to hide and stay hidden.

The author's first book (A Man Called Ove) was written from the perspective of a 59-year-old man.  This one, written completely from the perspective of an almost eight-year-old, is a wonder.  The fairy tales are woven into and around the other plots and everything ties together at the end.

I loved this book.  I think Fredrik Backman is my new favorite author.

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The Melody Lingers On by Mary Higgins Clark FIC Cla

Fair is fair. After writing quite unfavorably about Clark's previous release, Death Wears a Beauty Mask, it was just days later that my name made it to the top of the holds list for The Melody Lingers On. After seeing another review source that recommended skipping this title, I almost did. But I've read this author's books for 40 years and just couldn't give it a pass. That's not to say it is an outstanding book, or that it is one of this author's best. It was an okay quick read.
The protagonist, an assistant to New York's premier interior designer, meets and begins dating the son of an unscrupulous hedge fund manager who disappeared a few years previously with all of his investors' money. Is he alive? Where is the money? Was his son involved? And where does his former paramour get all of her money? Good potential. It could have been so much better.
Clark was the queen of mystery for a long time. Stories were well-crafted, suspenseful, and filled with red herrings. More recently, I notice the skeleton is there but the flesh is pretty loose. Much of the background of the characters comes from "she/he thought" or "remembered" statements. I almost envision the character with the little speech bubble cloud used in comic strips to show thoughts.
I will say, though, that the plot ideas are intriguing, and I've always admired Clark for keeping her work chaste. She's a good author to suggest to readers who don't want to be subject to vulgarities, graphic descriptions of violence, or explicit sexuality.
That said, I'm just so much more an advocate of this country's free public library system, so I can read anything I want without having to pay for the privilege of doing so.

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The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand FIC Hil

Elin Hilderbrand welcomes us back to her world on Nantucket, an island where everybody knows everybody, and they think they know everybody’s business as well.

Madeline, under pressure to come up with an outline for her second novel, rents an apartment in town.
Did you hear that Rachel rented an apartment to Madeline?
I heard that Madeline has moved out.
Eddie, married to Madeline’s best friend, knocks on the door of the apartment, demanding to know why she rented from Rachel, his biggest competitor in the real estate business.
I saw Eddie go into Madeline’s apartment.
Do you think Eddie and Madeline are having an affair?
So-and-so told me Madeline and Eddie are having an affair.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the stormy waters are financial trouble, a wayward and self-absorbed teen daughter, an ignored wife, a heart-broken son, and a very attractive landscape designer, all swirled together into a well-crafted, engaging story.

I like Hilderbrand’s novels for the Nantucket setting, her believable characters and their relationships. I put them in the “beach read” category because they’re enjoyable, not terribly serious, and compelling. No, I didn’t read The Rumor at the beach, and you shouldn’t wait to do that, either. Get your name on the list for this one now!

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Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison J Mor

Oh, what a sheltered life the beautiful Rapunzel has lived. Her tower is at the center of her world, and as far as she knows, her world is the world. Until, that is, Jack the Beanstalker climbs onto her balcony. He’s come to find a cure for Glyph, the eldest fairy. And he tricks Rapunzel into following him from the tower.

So begins this delightful tale of an innocent, sheltered girl who discovers a whole new world as she and Jack follow Glyph’s command to seek the Woodmother. What a great take on this Grimm Brothers fairy tale. Grounded would be a wonderful choice for a family read-aloud.

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Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian (FIC Oha)

In 1990 Anatolia (in Turkey), Orhan returns home for his grandfather's funeral.  Orhan now lives in Istanbul and is the manager of the family rug-making business.  To Orhan's surprise, his grandfather has left an apartment for his father and aunt to live in, the family business to him and their ancestral home, their home for generations, to a woman he's never heard of who lives in California.

Determined to secure the family home for them (because what would someone who lives in California want with a home in central Turkey?), Orhan travels there to persuade her to sign the house back to him, with cash as an incentive if necessary.  He is also determined to discover just how this woman's life intersects with that of his family.

Once there, he finds Seda, the recipient of the house, now living in a nursing home for Armenians and unwilling to talk to him.  Over the course of the novel, as Orhan learns about Seda, he must come face-to-face with his family's past, Seda's past, and his own country's past.

Coinciding with the 100th "anniversary" of the Armenian genocide in 1915 in Turkey, I found this book to be a fascinating look at a part of history I haven't heard much about,...until this year.  At times the book was difficult to read.  Not knowing what awaited Seda and her family made for tense reading moments and sometimes I had to put the book aside for a few minutes.  Needing to find out what happened, though, I always went back to it.

This book introduced me to a people and culture I wasn't familiar with.  I ended up feeling sympathy for both sides of the story - a great achievement for the author.

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Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton FIC Bol

 

This novel kept me guessing.  It takes place in the Falkland Islands in the early 1990's.  The three main characters are Catrin, Rachel and Callum.  Catrin and Rachel were friends from childhood - but that all ended when Catrin's two children were with Rachel and she left them alone in the car for a few minutes.  The car ended up going over a cliff.  Since that time Catrin has been a completely different person.  She manages to continue her work with marine wildlife but that is it.  Although she still sees Callum they are no longer lovers.  She has turned into someone he doesn't recognize.  Her husband gave up on her and went on to rebuild his life with someone else.  She lives with her little dog and fills her days with anger and hatred toward Rachel.  In a few days it will be the third anniversary of her sons' death.  And Catrin has something big planned for that day.   Her plans get interrupted by the news that another little boy is missing.  He is the third one to go missing in the past two years.

The beginning of the novel is told in Catrin's voice but later on we hear the story from Rachel and Callum.  It certainly kept me interested

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