Written before the COVID-pandemic, this book about the cholera epidemic in London was surprisingly captivating.  I am surprised it didn't have a mass revival in early 2020 when we were all thinking about and learning about pandemics.  The structure of this book took some getting used to since it goes off on tangents about sewage systems and water supplies, housing policy, and the impact of class on living and working conditions both within household and across the city.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed learning how scientists at the time thought about disease and studied it, using both physical and social sciences and how likeability and the ability to write well impacted whose ideas caught on, rather than who was "right" about what steps could stop the spread.  There is an entire section on the history of alcohol consumption and how groups who drank alcohol instead of water typically survived unscathed since cholera dies in the process of converting water to alcohol.  It made me think that the phrase, "only the good die young," might relate to disease since the drinkers were the survivors until they figured out it was in the water.  

Overall, significantly above average and an interesting read.

​Recommend.

There are some things about this book to really love, particularly in the second half, but I had to really slog my way through the first part of it.  There is a lot of graphic intimate violence use to set the scene for what at first feels like an intergenerational story about trauma and "survival" that doesn't feel like survival at all.  The story itself, though, gets muddled before it gets sorted out at all, as it begins to unfold on two timelines--the original one of misery and a second one in which a movie is being made about the first one and so research ensues that leads to being able to fill in some of the blanks in the historical timeline. 

Eventually, and I do mean eventually because it takes a very, very long time, the two storylines start to make sense and remarkably intertwined as the connections become clear.  The second half or so of the book shifts away from the abuse and neglect, but leaves the pain and dysfunction that comes from unstable and unsafe early lives.  The impact, of course , of intergenerational trauma plays out through the lives, leaving expected fallout in its wake.  

Once we move beyond the backstory, the book significantly improves as the main character becomes obsessed with learning to fly as a young girl and remains fixated on that throughout her life, leading to adventures and relationships, with story twists and turns that are unanticipated, but not entirely unforeseen. 

If you can make it through the sexualized violence, addiction, and generalized misery that is the backbone of the story and like historical women's fiction, you'll do well with this one. Also, if you are interested in flying airplanes or travel to the north and south poles, you will probably find those parts of the story particularly interesting.  For me, the start was too much of a struggle to get through for a recommendation, even though by the end I liked the story.

Not recommended.

Read by the famous actor author guy that I don't think I knew who he was before I read it, this book is memoir mixed with poetry, bumper stickers, and other random thoughts.  The underlying theme seemed to be a reflection on how lucky his life has been and how undeserving of everything he has attained because of his fame and fortune, but it felt a bit empty to me. I kept waiting for that to translate into something meaningful, something bigger about life, but it just kind of fizzled into this commentary about how he moved out of LA and back home with his wife and kids so that they could have a life with less fanfare and be closer to family.  There was no moment, no point to the narrative and I was left with this sense that while his reading voice had a catchy cadence, there was a distinct lack of substance.

Not recommended.

Perky and face-paced, this friends, lovers, or something else romance was so good...until it wasn't.  Nothing about it felt cliched or trite...up until the very end.  The characters were dynamic and quirky, the relationship atypical and fun...until out of nowhere at the very end it turned into...well, spoiler alert...exactly like you would expect every other similar type of romance novel to be.  Even the dialogue went from witty banter to sappy crap in the blink of an eye.  The concept was so good and the writing was clipping along until bam!  It was an incredible let down.  I don't know what I was expecting at the end, but I wasn't expecting the exact opposite of what the rest of the book was--Why would you go from quirky, unpredictable, and funny to conventional, overdone, and derivative? No thanks.

​Not recommended.

I did not think it was possible to dislike a Kingsolver book this much, although it has been a very long time since I read one, to be honest.  I think the point was to try to show moments of lovely amidst the darkest of lives, but really I just got stuck in the misery of the lives.  For sure there is some redemption mixed in there, but mostly it is addiction, abuse, pain, and intergenerational trauma that goes on and on and on.  There are so many characters living really unhappy lives under really terrible conditions with nicknames that are just mean.  Demon Copperhead, Maggot, Swap-Out...I am sure there were lots more I can't remember, but they were definitely not terms of endearment.  So much bullying, violence, and despair.  But, on the positive, the writing is eloquent.

Not recommended.  

Well, as someone who saw the movie Hotel Rwanda and thought that was based on a heartwarming true story about risking everything to save people from a genocide, I was shocked and horrified by this version of the story--which is widely considered to be the truth behind the movie.  Rather than a hero, the hotel manager was actually using the situation for personal financial gain and has used his platform since the unvetted movie was released to actually perpetuate the divide that led to the genocide in Rwanda in the first place.  The storytelling here isn't poorly written, but it is what it has to say about how easy it is for Hollywood to sell a story as "truth" that it crafted almost entirely off one person's story.  Following the money trail was even more depressing, even while I know--I really know--that money collected for "donations" in these types of circumstances almost never makes it where it is supposed to go.  Nevertheless, the complacency of those involved is worth reading about, even if it is going to piss you off.  You'll need to watch the movie, though, to appreciate the book.


Highly recommend.

Not only did I love this book, I could not stop craving Chinese food for weeks after I finished it.  Even just thinking about the books makes me want to connect with friends around shared dishes for dinner.  The story of a recently widowed food critic on a trip to China that combines the personal and professional sets up this travel/food novel about truth, forgiveness, family, connection, grief, and love. The way the ritual of preparing, ordering, and eating food across families and cultures made for thoughtful reading.  I hardly stopped reading from start to finish.  The plot and narrative prose both resonated with me and I was all in right from the start.

Highly recommend.

This YA romance-ish novel is just the best of what that genre has to offer.  It is poignant, with richly developed characters and plotting that weaves themes through the story in ways that allow the emotional complexity of life to come through.  The protagonist is a gender bending model, awkward in their body, but in such a way that others see them as compelling and intriguing.  While the story moves into the world of high end modeling and photography, the young adult struggle to find meaning in work transcends age.  Early in the book, a character dies, setting up a backdrop of fragility as characters move in and out of grief and deal with it in different ways.  The miscommunications and lost opportunities to connect ring true and bring heartaches, only some of which can ever be healed.  An added bonus, the book is set in Oregon in places I am familiar with and love. The pull of the big city life is juxtaposed against the uniquely Oregonian way of life west of the Cascades.   It is a lovely novel, complex enough to demand attention, sweet enough to be heartwarming, and touching enough to be moving.

​Recommend.