Tag: reading

books, reading, romance

Romance on Tap

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When life becomes overwhelming, it’s always good to pick up a Romance Novel. You are assured a happy ending – something we need more than we would likely admit.

This summer, I have indulged in this genre. Too many heavy books during this unsettling time led me here – and I am not apologizing for it.

Friday Night Cocktails by Allison Rushby

Two friends, Gemma and Sarah, create a list of cheating, lying or despicable men they dated, permanently taking them off the eligible list. This list has been written on loose leaf paper, with a place of honor on the fridge door. When the list becomes too bulky for the magnet to handle, Sarah suggests putting it online. Gemma, an underemployed writer, puts it on her homepage, and it goes viral. Taken by surprise, Gemma works with her friend to make this into a business. While learning how to do this, she begins a journey of self-reflection on why men are bastards, why she has a chip on her shoulder about her ex, and what her role was in their breakup. More self-reflection than expected, but it was a fun ride.

The Summer of Us by Holly Chamberlin

Three vastly different women who don’t know each other decide to rent a house on Martha’s Vineyard for the summer. Through the support they provide for one another, they all begin to see themselves differently and become more comfortable with who they truly are.  

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

Nina was brought up by a single mother, never knowing her father. With a dream job at a bookstore, a winning trivia team, and a cat, she doesn’t think she needs more from life. Then a lawyer shows up and informs her that her father has died, and she has a number of siblings, nieces, and nephews, and they are all nearby! She begins to step into a world of a family – and of the real world outside the cocoon she has wrapped herself in, including the possibility of a boyfriend.

The Little Cottage on the Hill by Emma Davies

Maggie comes to the country with a job to promote a luxurious holiday retreat. When she arrives, however, she finds a rundown estate. She has everything riding on this job, after a scandal pushed her out of the London PR firm she was at. Maggie digs in, working with Seth – the owner – and his friends, and they both end up coming out ahead.

Death Takes a Honeymoon by Deborah Donnelly

This is the fourth installment of a series centered on Carnegie Kincaid, a wedding planner. In this story Carnegie is convinced to come home to Montana to help her best friend cover a secret from her beloved husband. Other strange happenings occur, as people begin to die as the wedding of the third friend, now a famous actress, is upset by more murders. Predictable, but fun.

The Lost Girls of Ireland by Susanne O’Leary

Lidia Butler has nothing left, so she moves with her daughter to her Great Aunt Nellie’s home in Sandy Cove, Ireland.  As she begins to heal from her trauma, Lidia finds herself building relationships throughout the town. As Lidia comes to embrace her past and forgive herself for it, she builds a new life based upon her strengths and friendships.

book-review, books, Family Drama, literature, reading

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

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This novel is a tribute to family, faith, and love. Told through the voice of 11‑year‑old Reuben Land, the story begins with the miracle of his birth. His father, Jeremiah, arrived late to the delivery room. After 12 minutes without breathing, the doctor told Reuben’s mother there was nothing more to be done. But Jeremiah picked up his son and commanded him to breathe in the name of the living God—and Reuben did. From then on, however, Reuben lived with severe asthma.

Jeremiah had once studied medicine but gave it up to follow the path of God. He worked humbly as a janitor at the town school. A man of deep faith and honor, he saved his son’s teenage girlfriend from being attacked in the boys’ locker room during a football game. The boys involved were known troublemakers who had terrorized the town, and they soon turned their anger on the Land family. They harassed them repeatedly, even kidnapping the youngest daughter, Swede, and hurting her before returning her home. At that point, Reuben’s older brother Davy realized the danger would never end. Armed with a shotgun, he waited in his room. When the two boys broke into the house, Davy shot them dead.

Although Davy believed he was protecting his family, he knew he had taken human lives. He was arrested but later escaped from jail and disappeared. Jeremiah, desperate to find his son, gathered the family into an Airstream trailer and set out toward the Badlands.

Both Davy and Reuben were the focus of their father’s prayers, but those prayers came with a cost. Reuben had been given life, yet his breathing remained weak and difficult. Davy knew his father prayed for God’s help against the family’s tormentors, but the price was heavy—Davy’s own act of violence. The novel suggests that faith can bring solutions, but those solutions are not always the same as justice.

The writing is strong, though at times the events feel a little unbelievable. Still, the family’s love and faith in one another never waver, making this a powerful story about resilience and devotion.

book-review, books, literature, reading

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

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This novel is widely regarded as a literary masterpiece, and Kundera is often hailed as one of the greats.

I, however, didn’t agree.

The book explores the philosophical tension between “lightness” and “heaviness” in life—where lightness symbolizes emptiness and heaviness represents meaning. Interestingly, I believe these metaphors can be reversed, and Kundera seems to play with that inversion, challenging conventional ideas about what truly matters.

While the writing is undeniably skillful, I found myself disconnected from the characters. In fact, I actively disliked them. As their backstories unfolded—revealing what they abandoned, how selfish they were, and how condescending they remained—I grew even more alienated. Their emotional detachment made it hard to care about their journeys.

Perhaps I’m just not erudite enough to appreciate the deeper layers of this novel.

I’m okay with that.

book-review, books, literature, reading

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

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Orbital is not an easy read. It demands effort and patience to grasp what’s unfolding. There’s no conventional plot, no direct dialogue—just a stream of impressions and reflections that pass quickly, often without resolution. Does it make sense? That’s for the reader to work out.

The novel follows a single day aboard a space station that orbits Earth sixteen times. Through these cycles, we encounter six astronauts from vastly different backgrounds—American, Russian, Italian, British, and Japanese—each of whom has committed to life and work in space. Their cultural differences shape their perspectives, yet they share common emotional terrain: the loneliness of being far from loved ones, and the awe of floating above the planet.

Harvey presents their lives in fragments—snapshots both literal and metaphorical. The crew tracks a typhoon building over Asia, takes photographs, recalls artwork, eats, exercises, and reflects. These glimpses offer data points about each character, but never a complete portrait. This mirrors their view of Earth: partial, obscured, requiring faith to fill in the gaps. The typhoon’s trajectory, like the inner lives of the crew, remains elusive.

With no spoken dialogue, the novel evokes the solitude of orbit. Each revolution around the planet reframes what “home” means, especially when viewed from such distance. The astronauts’ thoughts drift toward their families, their countries, and the landscapes below—each pass offering a new angle, a new emotional resonance.

Ultimately, Orbital is a quiet meditation on perspective, isolation, and connection. The storm on Earth parallels the internal storms each astronaut carries. You don’t know where it will strike, or how hard—but you feel its presence, circling with them.

book-review, books, mystery, reading

Old Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Kate Galley

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When I saw the title “Old Girls Behaving Badly”, I just had to read this. I know I am getting older every day, but this looked right up my alley.

This book is the first in a delightful new series (the second is “Old Girls on a Chateau Escape” and I am eagerly awaiting the third installment).

The stories follow Georgina (Gina) Knight, a 73 year old woman who’s husband left her after 43 years to go find himself. He, of course took all the money with him, leaving Gina with nowhere to go after the house is sold and no income. Gina decides to try her hand at “being a carer” and answers an ad in the paper. Dorothy (Dot) Reed, and 89 year old woman, has a family that is sure she needs to be taken care of, starting at a family wedding. Her niece hires Gina in exchange for room and board. Little did the family realize that Dot had her own reasons for wanting a helper – to catch a thief. Through heavier topics, such as Gray Divorce, Aging and Mourning there is plenty of fun to be had as the ladies that have been counted out become those to be counted on.   

At the end of the story Gina is asked to remain near Dot for as long as she wishes. The mutual concern becoming the basis of friendship between the women. The second book picks up after the first, and there is another thing that Dot needs Gina to help her with. An old friend was writing a memoir and Dot didn’t want any mention of something that happened over 50 years ago to be broadcast to the world. Dot sends Gina to help as a personal secretary while spying. More hilarity ensues as this too unravels.

Each book is fun, if a bit unbelievable. There is plenty of laughter throughout both books, although I liked the first one more than the second. I am looking forward to book #3.

book-review, books, Holocaust, reading

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

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Nico is a Jewish boy living in Salonika, Greece during World War II. He’s known for one thing: he never tells a lie. Because of this reputation, a Nazi commander takes him in and uses him to spread false hope to Jews being evacuated from Greece. He tells them there will be new homes and safety when they get to the destination—not knowing they were truly being sent to concentration camps.

Nico’s brother, Sebastian, has always been jealous of Nico’s goodness. When their family is forced onto a train, Sebastian believes Nico betrayed them and promises to get revenge.

Later, Nico realizes he was tricked into lying. Feeling guilty, he decides to find his family. By pretending to be different people based upon the situation he finds himself in Nico is able to survive the war.

Meanwhile, Sebastian and the rest of the family are sent to a concentration camp. Sebastian refuses to obey the Commandant—the same man who tricked Nico. The harsh treatment handed down to deliberately break him only fuels Sebastian’s anger and desire for revenge.

Years pass. Nico somehow ends up in Hollywood. Fannie, his first love and Sebastian’s estranged wife, finds him. As the truth slowly comes out, we learn that Nico tried to help the people who had protected him, while Sebastian hunted down those responsible for the suffering. Both brothers are trying to make sense of the pain they endured.

This is a bold and emotional story, though it relies on too many lucky escapes to feel fully believable. It may not be the strongest Holocaust novel, but it offers a satisfying ending for readers who want closure.

book-review, books, Historical Fiction, read around the world, reading

Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan

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Set on February 28 in Taiwan, the story begins with a birth, a death, and martial law. The night the narrator is born is the crack down of Chinese Nationalists on the rebellious Taiwan. Her father, Dr Tsai, is brought a man that has been shot in the first street protests and delivers his youngest daughter into the world. This juxtaposition is the theme of the story – something bad and something good are bound together in this hectic world.

The next day Dr Tsai registers a protest against the violent crackdown, and is quickly arrested and sent to jail by secret police, the KMT, as are thousands of men in what is known as the 228 Massacre. How the family survives the stain of the arrest, and the wider distrust of the family when the doctor names anti-Chinese agitators, is one of perseverance under pressure. The family moves to the countryside and is shocked when a decade later a skeleton of a man returns to them.

While he has returned, he is a shadow of the man he was. Broken by the KMT, and despised by those in his community, the family struggles under the weight of the aftermath of the arrest. The four children all go different ways, with each being influenced by the events of the arrest/crackdown.

The youngest daughter moves to California with her husband. There, far from Taiwan, her husband joins the resistance. She is approached by the KMT in America, where they continue to sow discontent and fear between the Taiwanese people. The repeat of history around innocent words spoken continues to haunt the family, and all of those that live through the cycle of history and its never ending repeating.

This story examines the legacy of speaking out, its impact on those left behind, and how history continues to repeat itself. Not an easy read with such a heavy topic, with details about the brutality endured by those sent to “Green Island” for their crimes, but I am glad I read this and learned more about this period in Taiwan.

book-review, books, Family Drama, reading

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

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We start by meeting a group of people dedicated to swimming in a community pool. The habits of these people, told with no emotion, are detailed. The pool rules are detailed and lived by. The people, from all walks of life, have different reasons for being there. All are detailed for us.

A crack is found in the pool, and the reactions of the pool staff, specialists, and swimmers are all detailed. There are things that can be done, they don’t know what the source is, the cracks disappear for a few days, but then they are back. The unknown is making people uneasy, the swimmers start to find other places to go, only a few remain to the very end.  

Throughout, there is Alice – swimming and unperturbed by what is going on. 

The second half of the book focuses on Alice. She is being placed in a memory care ward by her family. The slow decline of Alice – from waiting by the door for her husband to pick her up to not knowing who is visiting is heartbreaking. At home her husband refuses to change the sheets or wash her nightgown, as he misses her.

The story – starting with the swimming pool – is about the decent into dementia. The impact a fissure in the brain, the specialists trying to help, the inexplainable coming and going of symptoms, and the inevitability of the disease. This unique way of bringing the story alive made it all the more moving by needing to make the connections in your own head shows the complexity of the disease.

Well written and thought provoking, I look forward to more from this author.

book-review, books, literature, reading

Lulu Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kristen Miller

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If you look at this book and assume this is just another light comedy, you would be right – and wrong. This book is not just about banning books. Its about what happens if people are silent when they see something happening that is not right. It is about what hate can do to a person. It is about how easy it is to be taken in by hate. It is about how reading a book can open yourself up to learning about what another’s experience was. It creates empathy and understanding. Some of the most dangerous things that cannot be controlled by those that want you to be afraid of everyone, and obey them.

Beverly is on the school board in the town she grew up in. Her nemesis, Lulu, has been behind a push to remove books from the libraries that will “harm” the children of the town. Instead, she has created a lending library of “wholesome books” on her property. What she doesn’t know is that Beverly’s daughter has switched these books with the actual banned books, leaving only the dust cover of the original book. Hilarity ensues as people borrow books, not expecting to read what they get. Each book, however, does what they are supposed to do – to bring other’s experiences to you, so you can make your own decisions on life.

This is the reason that book bans exist. The purpose is to keep information from others, to keep “others” as the unknown enemy, less than human. It is through this, and those that stand by and let things happen without saying anything, that hate can grow. This hate changes people. As we meet the people of the town, we begin to see how this hate has crept in, unknowingly, and how it is confronted.

Well written, timely and still fun. Worth your time.

Asian Culture, book-review, books, Historical Fiction, literature, read around the world, reading

House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

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This novel relies upon historical events that did occur, even if there is literary license taken with the exact timing of the events. This is especially appropriate, as they are told as a memory of a prior time. Lesley Hamlyn receives a package at her far from everything farm in South Africa. Surprised, since mail still comes for her now deceased husband Robert, that this package is for her. It is a book of W. Somerset Maugham. This takes her back to the time she and Robert were living in Cassowary House located in the straits of Penang, Malaysia.

Robert and “Willie” Maugham had been school chum in England. During Willie’s travels in Asia, he came to stay at Cassowary House with his secretary, Gerald. Willie learns that Sun Yat-sen, a Chinese revolutionary, had been known to them, he seeks information on who he is, and guesses that Lesley had an affair with him. While Lesley is warned that confidences given to Willie will end up in his works, she decides to tell him her story. It is a story of the shocks of learning things are not as neat as society lets on, that assumptions are wrong, and that deception can be both a blessing and a curse. As Lesley describes how she attends her friend’s trial for murder – a real event – the secrets come out to Willie.

The story comes to a close when we return to the older Lesley, in South Africa, comes to find her own peace and ability to choose for herself – something that had not been allowed in society when this is written.

Well crafted, engaging and thoughtful, I will seek more books by this author.