The Revolving Door of Life by Alexander McCall Smith FIC McC

McCall Smith has several different series and I follow a couple of them.  But the 44 Scotland Street Series is my absolute favorite.  I just love the quirky characters that live on that street.  And in this tenth book they are all back.  My favorite resident is 7 year-old Bertie.  In this book Bertie is having the time of his life (and it is about time!).  His mother is currently absent - having been detained in a Bedouin harem (that happened in the last book!).  His paternal grandmother comes to help out.  At last Bertie gets a break from all the things his mother makes him do - yoga, Italian lessons and psychotherapy just to name a few.  She even lets him buy some jeans!!  The other residents are also in the story with all sorts of problems and adventures.  If you want a light-hearted series go back to the beginning and meet all of these great characters!

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Last One Home by Debbie Macomber FIC Mac

I don't like pure romance books so I pick and choose when it comes to Macomber.  This one was a nice easy read with some meat in it!  Cassie Carter had a happy childhood with her older sister, Karen, and her younger sister Nichole.  Cassie was very bright and had earned a college scholarship.  But before she begin that part of her life she ran away to Florida with her boyfriend after learning that she was pregnant.  It was the worse mistake of her life - except for her daughter.  Her husband couldn't keep a job and was very physically abusive.  Now Cassie is back in her home state of Washington.  There has been very little contact with her sisters during all of these years.  Their parents have died but Cassie was not able to come back for the funerals.  Cassie is working hard to get a Habitat for Humanity home so that she can finally give her daughter a real home.  She gets a letter from Karen one day saying that she had some things for her.  And that is the beginning of the long process to heal the family.

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Alice & Oliver by Charles Bock FIC Boc

I began reading this book yesterday and finished today. Obviously I liked it. It begins in 1993. Alice, a fashion designer, and Oliver, who works on computer programming, are having a great life. They are new parents to Doe (a deer a female deer - I apologize but I couldn't help that).  They are leaving NYC to have Thanksgiving with Alice's mom in Vermont.  Alice has been fighting a cold.  A ten-minute walk to meet Oliver at the car rental place turns into 30 minutes because she has to stop and rest.  But nothing is going to stop this trip!  They make it but the next morning her mom insists that she go see the doctor.  And just like that their world begins spinning out of control.

Alice is rushed to the hospital where she finds out that she has leukemia and she almost died. It isn't just a matter of rigorous medical treatments for Alice.  Oliver has plenty of stress to deal with also - starting with insurance and how they are going to afford her care.

It felt like a very 'real' novel.  And that is no surprise because the author went through a cancer diagnosis with his wife.  He used his own experiences and parts of a journal that his wife kept.  It is an intense read.

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Clementine: the life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell BCD 941 Pur

 

This is an audiobook which I loved because I can listen to those accents for a long time!  I didn't even know the name of Churchill's wife before listening to this book.  I always knew that Eleanor Roosevelt had a large part during the war years but Clementine deserves to be right up there in history, also.  They were quite different in the way they influenced history.

Clementine came from aristocracy but there was no money anymore and it wasn't always easy for her growing up.  When she married Winston he became her number one priority.  And that didn't really change when the children came along.  Winston confided everything in "Clemmie" and he depended on her for many things - helping him with campaigning, revising his speeches and taking care of his health.

If you enjoy history, listen to this book.  I guarantee you will find alot you didn't know.  This woman's influence on the world is fascinating!

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The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson FIC Sim

    

This is a novel about a small town in England.  It is 1914 and the war has not yet begun.  The town may be small but all of the usual conventions are observed.  The town is a bit shaken when Agatha (whose husband works in the Foreign Office - so she has an important status) takes the bold move of inviting a young woman to fill an opening as a Latin teacher.  (The powers that be would really prefer a man of course).  It's bad enough that Beatrice Nash is female but she is also young, attractive and a bit independent.  Her father has died and she has plans to make her way in this world - and without a husband.

With a bit of (unknown) help from some mischievous young men, Beatrice gets the job and begins to settle in to her new community.  And did I mention that Agatha's nephew, Hugh (who has been studying medicine) is visiting and seems a bit interested in Beatrice even though he is unofficially engaged.  Things change quickly when Britain joins the war.

I loved the setting of the novel.  Reading about the culture of the time is always interesting.  War changes things quickly. - how can two cute dachshunds become hated just because of their ancestry??? !!

I listened to the audiobook and loved it.

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Girl in the Dark by Marion Pauw FIC Pau

 

Ms. Pauw is Dutch and she won an award that is given annually for the best Dutch crime novel.  This award is called the Golden Noose Award!  That should assure you that this is a good book.

Iris had a good job as a lawyer and was a confident woman.  Then she got pregnant and her world changed.  She loves her son, Aaron, but he is a challenge with his behavior and outbursts.  Her confidence has been eroded since she became a single mother. Because of Aaron she had to look for a part-time job.  It seemed a miracle that she finally got an offer working three days a week. Iris' mother, Agatha, has never been a warm fuzzy mother but she gets along well with Aaron and watches him sometimes.  When Aaron is at Agatha's he is always calmed down by watching the large salt-water aquarium.

Iris has never understood why Agatha has this aquarium.  But that aquarium actually leads Iris to an astonishing discovery.  She has an older brother named Ray.  Soon Iris begins to search for this deep dark secret.  And what a secret it is!  A great book.  I read it in a day because I wanted to know what happened!

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A Surgeon's War: My Year in Vietnam by Dr Henry Ward Trueblood 921 Tru

I wouldn't have looked twice at the picture on the back of this book because he didn't look familiar.  If I had seen the wedding picture that is inside the book I would immediately have recognized the guy.  I grew up a block from his family home, his dad was my Doctor, my mom worked in his office and our families were friends.  So I loved the parts where he wrote about Indianola and his parents.

I grew up during the Vietnam era and every night I would see the coffins being returned.  In college I remember watching the draft numbers being drawn.  I didn't have any close friends who served there but I have had friends who married Vietnam vets and they all said the same thing - their spouses didn't want to talk about it.   I think I understand that a lot better now.  It blows my mind when I think of how one year of someone's life can have such a negative impact emotionally and psychologically that it never goes away.

This book was a good reminder of what happened to so many of those young men and the brave surgeons who did their jobs in horrible and dangerous conditions.

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