The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

June 14, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Review by Snowdrop

The bestselling historical fiction novel from Kim Michele Richardson, this is a novel following Cussy Mary, a packhorse librarian and her quest to bring books to the Appalachian community she loves, perfect for readers of William Kent Kreuger and Lisa Wingate. The perfect addition to your next book club!

The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything—everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome’s got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.

Cussy’s not only a book woman, however, she’s also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy’s family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she’s going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and suspicion as deep as the holler.

Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere—even back home.

What a great story. I can’t find a thing wrong with it. It isn’t all filled with good things. It’s also full of poverty-stricken people and racism that we all hope would go away. Although you might think of these atrocities in the big city, this story is set in the 1930’s right in the heart of the Appalachia’s. Cussy Mary, a 19-year-old young lady, takes care of her father who works in the mines. It’s just the two of them, and they struggle to even keep food on the table.

Cussy Mary takes on a book delivery job. It was The Pack Horse Librarian Project, established as part of President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. It was exactly as it sounds…ladies delivering books via horses to people all over the hills and trails. Some of the trails were quite treacherous to travel. Cussy Mary used a sure-footed cantankerous old mule to get to some of the families and people on her route. She had people that could not wait to see her no matter the kind of book she had for them and yet others were afraid of her because she was what people in Kentucky called the “Blues”. Her skin was blue, and the prejudice just as real as any other you are familiar with.

Somehow, I’m sure you can already tell I enjoyed this story. There’s another aspect to this little bit of historical fiction that was very important to me. I kept running to my computer to see if all these things were true, and they were. Roosevelt’s Project, the Pack Horse Librarians, and unfortunately, the poverty and prejudice. What a joy to read an enjoyable story of fiction and soak up all of those facts at the same time. Well-written and great to read.

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American Arcadia by Laura Scalzo

May 26, 2023 By Leave a Comment


American Arcadia by Laura Scalzo
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

New York City, 1985, the scaffolded and torchless Statue of Liberty is under reconstruction, the Twin Towers hum with money, and the clubs pulse with music. Young Wall Streeter, Mina Berg, and her roommate, Chry Risk, strike up friendships with the volatile Danny Nyro and easygoing Dare Fiore. Mina wants Chry’s family prestige, while Chry only wants to play the bass like Jaco Pastorius. Nyro trades on his father’s notoriety and Dare is keeping secrets. Each of these twenty-somethings attempts to rewrite their origin story as they find themselves knotted in the cross purposes of friendship and love, life and death. Meanwhile, the Sicilian grandmothers on Staten Island are telling tall tales of a fugitive mermaid who lives in the New York Harbor. It’s for you to decide if she’s a monster or a saint. Themes of art, immigration, reproductive rights, AIDS, assault, class, and betrayal simmer beneath a dynamic plot that spans one life-altering year.

The 1980s was a memorable time, with big things turning the world upside down or individual homes. This story, set in 1985, in New York, covers some of those things such as AIDS and friends and family dynamics.

Mina and her friend Chry live their busy lives in this big city, Mina on Wall Street, and Chry as the daughter of a senator, trying to find her own way through music. They befriend a nice guy with a secret and a rich guy whose bold behavior often encourages the others to take chances. Each of them is bathed in mystery. For example, Mina was left to die as a baby but adopted. Will she ever know the truth from where she come?

As these twenty-somethings live day-by-day, having fun and working, they discover things about themselves and others. Not all these things lead to somewhere good. They face tragic realities, and readers are sure to pick up some of these moving moments and feel them as well.

One learns about the culture of the era, the New York of the eighties and what a bustling time it was, in some ways, different that it is today. Questions are often different, but not always. While reading about these friends and their families, one is likely to be entertained. The writing is personal and addictive. Why not check this one out?

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The Little French Bistro by Nina George

April 20, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Little French Bistro by Nina George
Publisher: Broadway Books
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

Marianne is stuck in a loveless, unhappy marriage. After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as “the end of the world.”

Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all seem to have, taking pleasure in life’s small moments. And, as the parts of herself she had long forgotten return to her in this new world, Marianne learns it’s never too late to begin the search for what life should have been all along.

With all the buoyant charm that made The Little Paris Bookshop a beloved bestseller, The Little French Bistro is a tale of second chances and a delightful embrace of the joys of life in France.

Marianne is in her sixties and quite unhappy with her marriage and her life; that’s why she attempts suicide in Paris. It’s a failed attempt, and she is rescued by an interesting man. She ends up in Brittany, in a coastal village and meets a vibrant group of people.

These characters jump off the page with their unique qualities and situations. Marianne works in a bistro and gets to know them, but the best part is that she gets to know herself, a woman she has repressed for decades. The true her comes out in a charming unfolding of the story.

Marianne is surrounded by the culture in Brittany. The villagers have their own way of doing things, and it is fun to read about them.

Trouble comes up when Marianne’s husband finds her. She makes some tough decisions.

The end of the book has questions to ponder and a little bit about life in this little part of the world. This book has substance and is worth the read.

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Calling Ukraine by Johannes Lichtman

April 18, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Calling Ukraine by Johannes Lichtman
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books, Scribner
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and author of Such Good Work Johannes Lichtman returns with a novel that is strikingly relevant to our times—about an American who takes a job in Ukraine in 2018, only to find that his struggle to understand the customs and culture is eclipsed by a romantic entanglement with deadly consequences.

Shortly after his thirtieth birthday, John Turner receives a call from an old college friend who makes him an odd job offer: move to Ukraine to teach customer service agents at a startup how to sound American. John’s never been to Ukraine, doesn’t speak Ukrainian, and is supposed to be a journalist, not a consultant. But having just gone through a break-up and the death of his father, it might just be the new start he’s been looking for.

In Ukraine, John understands very little—the language and social customs are impenetrable to him. At work, his employees are fluent in English but have difficulty grasping the concept of “small talk.” And although he told himself not to get romantically involved while abroad, he can’t help but be increasingly drawn to one of his colleagues.

Most distressing, however, is the fact that John can hear, through their shared wall, his neighbor beating his wife. Desperate to help, John decides to offer the neighbor 100,000 hryvnias to stop. It’s a plan born out the best intentions, but one that has disastrous repercussions that no amount of money or altruism can resolve.

Like Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station and Garth Greenwell’s What Belongs to You, Calling Ukraine reimagines the American-abroad novel. Moving effortlessly between the comic and the tragic, Johannes Lichtman deploys his signature wry humor and startling moral acuity to illuminate the inevitable complexities of doing right by others.

Calling Ukraine presents an American journalist who is offered a job in Ukraine. John Turner’s old friend needs him to go there and teach Ukrainians in a call center how to sound American, in order to make calls go smoother and faster.

John packs his bags and heads there, where he knows very little about the language and culture. He runs into various characters who have their own way of teaching him about Ukrainian society—in and out of the office. He also meets an American woman who is there, and they strike up a temporary friendship.

John’s adventures start out innocent enough then get more troublesome. He finds himself in a difficult situation and can’t handle it the way Americans would back home. He comes up with a strange solution, but this takes a very bad turn. From then on, he’s looking over his shoulder, very anxious of being thrown into a Ukrainian prison.

The book is fast-paced and entertaining. There was one part that stands out as too judgmental, when John has a conversation about Gen X. He is harsh with this generation, and his views don’t sound accurate, but rather like someone younger judging an age group and not understanding how it really was—based on a television sitcom. However, the book is good, with rising tension and complex characters, and it is not predictable. This story was informative about Ukraine and enjoyable.

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In Search of the Animalcule by Steven L. Berk, M.D.

March 22, 2023 By Leave a Comment


In Search of the Animalcule by Steven L. Berk, M.D.
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

When he is born in 1847 Vienna, Jacob Pfleger shares just two days with his mother, a female obstetrician who dies, like thousands of other women around the world, of the mysterious childbed fever. Because his birth father wants nothing to do with him, Jacob is placed in an orphanage. His mother’s dying wish is that he will grow up with resilience and independence.

As Jacob matures into a precocious twelve-year-old, he is told about the legacy of his mother by her colleague, Ignaz Semmelweis, and learns that his father is a winemaker in Lille, France. Determined to find his father and his destiny, Jacob embarks on a quest to locate him. When he arrives in France, Jacob is introduced to Louis Pasteur who is working with is father to determine why the wines of France are spoiling. As he is led on an intense scientific journey, Jacob eventually also works with Joseph Lister and Robert Koch, participating in the great discoveries of the era that uncover the animalcules, the bacteria, that have caused global disease and death. Later Jacob studies to become a doctor under the mentorship of Sir William Osler at Johns Hopkins.

In this amazing story that captures the real lives and work of the great scientists of the time, an orphan assists in shocking discoveries that change the worlds understanding of disease and uncovers the field of infectious disease.

To read an entertaining and engaging account of what is probably the most important medical breakthrough of the nineteenth century—germ theory—this book should not be missed! It is seen through the eyes of the highly likeable orphan boy, Jacob, whose mother died birthing him at the hands of doctors who didn’t wash their hands. Jacob’s mother was a doctor who believed that germs, or rather, animalcules, were responsible for many deaths. This sets young Jacob on a life-long course to discover more and save lives, but first, he must find the father he never met.

Jacob starts off on an adventure and runs away from the orphan home in a quest from Vienna to France to find his father, a vineyard worker. What comes next is a tale of danger, showing what a brave boy Jacob is. He heads out on foot with little food.

Over the course of the story, he runs into interesting people, both fictional and real. The characterization is done with excellence, and readers are treated to wonderful inside views of doctors and scientists who made history: Pasteur, Lister, and others. The author of this story is not only a doctor who understands the medical aspects involved but knows how to write these concepts in a way that laypeople can understand and enjoy.

Jacob’s interaction as he lives and works with those who have dedicated their lives to unfolding the mysteries of germ theory is not only charming but also enlightening. Readers will learn things, which is a bonus to being entertained. They will see what it was like to be a researcher in an era without modern equipment.

The author doesn’t forget the women who were involved and includes their important contributions. Jacob’s relationships are at times motivating and at others heartbreaking.

Setting in this story is done in a way to bring in even more realism and put readers there with a sense of time and place.

This is a fascinating account that is sure to touch readers’ hearts and inspire their minds. It is worth the read!

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If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura

February 17, 2023 By Leave a Comment


If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

The young postman’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family and living alone with only his cat, Cabbage, to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the devil shows up to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, the postman will be granted one extra day of life. And so begins a very strange week that brings the young postman and his beloved cat to the brink of existence.

With each object that disappears, the postman reflects on the life he’s lived, his joys and regrets, and the people he’s loved and lost.

This timeless tale from Genki Kawamura (producer of the Japanese blockbuster animated movie Your Name) is a moving story of loss and reconciliation, and of one man’s journey to discover what really matters most in life.

A young postman is facing his early death, and the devil visits him with an intriguing proposition. The young man will die within 24 hours unless… He will get one more day on earth is he agrees to the disappearance of one thing worldwide. This can go on indefinitely.

As the man makes one thing disappear after another, he sees the results of the world and people’s lives without that item. He does a lot of reflection on society and his life. Realizations hit him such as the truth about his relationships.

Some things are easy to make disappear, and then the idea of making cats disappear comes up. This young postman has a loyal feline companion named Cabbage. Cabbage adds some humor to this situation.

Now things have become a bit too tricky for the protagonist.

This is a thoughtful book, one with an interesting premise. It is not a fast mover, but readers will be curious to see what happens along the way and in the end.

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Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown

January 6, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Historical, Non-Fiction, Fiction
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

A witty and profound portrait of the most talked-about English royal

She made John Lennon blush and Marlon Brando tongue-tied. She iced out Princess Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gore Vidal revered her. Francis Bacon heckled her. Peter Sellers was madly in love with her. For Pablo Picasso, she was the object of sexual fantasy.

Princess Margaret aroused passion and indignation in equal measures. To her friends, she was witty and regal. To her enemies, she was rude and demanding. In her 1950s heyday, she was seen as one of the most glamorous and desirable women in the world. By the time of her death in 2002, she had come to personify disappointment. One friend said he had never known an unhappier woman. The tale of Princess Margaret is Cinderella in reverse: hope dashed, happiness mislaid, life mishandled.

Such an enigmatic and divisive figure demands a reckoning that is far from the usual fare. Combining interviews, parodies, dreams, parallel lives, diaries, announcements, lists, catalogues, and essays, Craig Brown’s Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret is a kaleidoscopic experiment in biography and a witty meditation on fame and art, snobbery and deference, bohemia and high society.

Full of quips and whimsy.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. I thought it would be more of a biography, but it’s a bit more like a love story written for the Princess. Really. There were moments of whimsy – fictitious spots where the author takes liberties about whom she’s married and quips – she could be quite funny, but at other times downright mean. This gave an interesting view into her life, but it’s not complete.

If one is wanting to read a proper biography on the Princess, then this isn’t it. Like I’ve mentioned, there are bits of fiction in there and some conversations recorded that probably didn’t happen that way. There are lots of bits and pieces of Margaret being quite rotten to people, too.

I liked that she could be quite snide and quick-witted. She knew how to take people down. But she also showed she wasn’t exactly a person of the people. She liked her lavish things and had little to do. She truly was the spare and she felt it. In that respect, I felt sorry for her. She had little to do and no one really gave her much direction.

If one goes into this book with the notion that it’s not all fact, then it’s a fun book. Why not give it a try? There truly are glimpses of the Princess, but it’s not always what you might think.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams by T. James Logan

January 5, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams by T. James Logan
Publisher: Bear Paw Publishing
Genre: YA, Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

A guitar, a box of junk, and a pile of trouble…

Fifteen-year-old Otter is in a dark place.

Child Services wants to put him in foster care, or even a home for troubled youth.

Living on his own, he’s one bad decision away from the street. His band’s first gig is only two weeks away, but his crush on their new lead singer has him tied in knots.

Then he inherits a box of random junk from a dead grandfather he barely knew, only to discover that the junk is infused with his grandfather’s memories. Can this “junk” help Otter win the girl of his dreams, reconnect with his family, and keep him out of juvenile detention…maybe even become a rock star?

You’ll love this touching, contemporary fantasy because it will play power chords on your heart strings.

Get it now.

Otter is a kid just orphaned and emancipated at the age of fifteen. He lives in a trailer park and helped his mother as she was dying of cancer. Now he must take care of himself. A woman from child services wants to put him in foster care, but Otter is dead set against this. He wants to take care of himself. He gets a job and misses school.

He has some things in his favor though: some good friends and neighbors and music. He plays bass guitar in a band, and music is a driving force for him. His grandfather leaves him an interesting box of junk, but it’s not just any junk. While going through it, Otter relieves the memories of his grandfather. He comes to understand him and learns some important things. This is an interesting aspect of the story, to see how Otter uses this knowledge in his life.

Otter has a nefarious neighbor, and in dealing with him, one sees how naïve Otter really is. He gets sucked into some bad things without realizing the truth, and this escalates. His best friend warns him, but he blows off the advice. Things get worse when someone steals his bass guitar when his band has an important gig coming up. Otter is already living on starvation wages. Then when Otter is with this troubled neighbor, the neighbor and his cohorts do something terrible in Otter’s presence. What will Otter do? If he calls the police, his life could be in danger, but he wants to do the right thing. This truly is a dark hour for him.

The story is underlined with his romantic interest, friendship, and other themes of family, racism, poverty, dreams, music, immigration, and other important issues. The characters are realistic, and one’s heart will surely be moved by the circumstances the kids find themselves in. The music aspects are done well. Vintage music comes to life here, and the descriptions of musicianship are perfect.

For an entertaining YA story with some depth, why not give this one a try?

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Sound Of It by Alison Jean Lester

December 15, 2022 By Leave a Comment


The Sound Of It by Alison Jean Lester
Publisher: Bench Press
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When Su, a divorced mother of one daughter, falls in love with Jeremy, a widowed father of two sons, they want to build a life together, but neither of their houses in Worcester is big enough for a family of five. They decide to build a dream house in farmland outside the city, in which to live happily ever after. For sound designer Su, it’s an opportunity to create an embracing home and heal past wounds of betrayal and loss, while failed entrepreneur Jeremy sees a chance to impress his overbearing father.

But what happens when hidden financial misjudgments cloud the horizon? What happens when some family ties grow strong and others don’t grow at all?

The Sound of It looks at parenting and at step-parenting, when expectations are high, dreams are big, and the Internet is very dangerous.

Dreaming is easier than making a dream come true.

The subplots about social media and Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response videos made this feel like a modern and fresh read. I’ve never read a book that included a character who knew about ASMR before, and was curious to see how it would be covered here. Their reaction to social media and ASMR told me a lot about that individual’s personality and added an additional layer of conflict that kept me reading.

Su and Jeremy repeatedly made rash decisions that left me shaking my head. They struggled to predict logical consequences for their actions or to verify things they were told that sounded too good to be true. I found myself wishing that these character flaws had been explained better. Did both of them have mental or physical health conditions that affected their cognitive abilities and short-term memories? Was there some other explanation for their illogical behavior? How did the author expect her readers to react to these scenes? These would have all been excellent themes to explore in depth and I would have happily gone with a higher rating if that had happened. As it was, though, I found myself shaking my head at their poor decision-making skills even though I otherwise liked them as individuals.

I enjoyed seeing how the relationships in this novel evolved in general. It takes work to blend two families together, and the process won’t always necessarily be a smooth one. The relationships between Su, Jeremy, her daughter, and his sons were probed from every possible angle. It was interesting to compare how the relationships between individual stepparents, stepchildren, biological parents, and biological siblings varied not only between individuals but also over time as they all got to know each other better.

The Sound Of It was a thought-provoking read.

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The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

September 22, 2022 By Leave a Comment


The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
Publisher: Random House Publishers
Genre: Historical, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle. The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry. Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter. Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother’s past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.

Sookie begins a search for answers that takes her to California, the Midwest, and back in time, to the 1940s, when an irrepressible woman named Fritzi takes on the job of running her family’s filling station. Soon truck drivers are changing their routes to fill up at the All-Girl Filling Station. Then, Fritzi sees an opportunity for an even more groundbreaking adventure. As Sookie learns about the adventures of the girls at the All-Girl Filling Station, she finds herself with new inspiration for her own life.

She wants to know who she is…after getting a strange envelope for her mother!

First off, I read Fannie Flagg for comfort. She’s comfort food in book form. No matter how goofed-up your life might be, her characters are zany enough to make you forget and just enjoy. The characters in this book are no different.

Sookie comes from a small town where everyone knows everyone. Her mother is a grand dame of the town and full of herself. It’s a slice of small-town life that’s normal and relatable. Her world is thrown into upheaval when she finds out she’s adopted. Again, very relatable.

I liked how the author handled the women pilots during the second world war. They were human and relatable, too, despite being fancy pilots who weren’t getting a lot of recognition for their help in the war effort. I have to admit this part of the story could’ve been handled with a more in-depth touch, but that’s okay. For a cursory lesson in women pilots during the war, it works.

I have to admit there were times when I wasn’t a fan of Sookie. She spent a lot of time wallowing. But then again, I didn’t always like Fritzi, either. They made decisions I might not have, but I wasn’t in their position. I did laugh at times–the war with the blue jays–and cried a little too. I won’t disclose where, you’ll have to read it to find out. But it was worth the read.

Good for an afternoon, this book is comfort food. If you want a simple, easy read, then pick it up.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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