Hard to believe that it's already Halloween, when it still felt almost summery last week! I have, of course, been enjoying some great reads this month, and I can't wait to share them!
Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing, by Jennifer Weiner. This funny and incredibly candid collection of essays from best-selling novelist Weiner (Good In Bed, In Her Shoes, etc.) covers everything. From weight, sex, love, motherhood, marriage(s), and writing to divorce, reality TV, Twitter fights and dog ownership, the essays cover all of it and more. I've been a fan of her writing since her debut and found this collection equally entertaining--I couldn't put it down.
Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, by Eddie Izzard. Izzard, comedian, actor, writer, here brings his own brand of sharp and clever humor to the page in essays that cover topics like mad ancient kings, politics both historical and sexual, chickens with guns, running marathons, and a number of other, more personal bits. He has long been one of my very favorite comedians, and if you're a fan, I highly recommend this memoir.
How to Find Love in a Bookshop, by Veronica Henry. Nightingale Books has been a fixture in its little village home for decades. After proprietor Julian passes away, his daughter Emilia returns to run it in its stead. She misses her father, as do the shop regulars, and together they form something close to family. Running the shop is not altogether easy, and the urge to sell to a local developer is hard to resist. More than anything, this is a story of stories, of books and how they connect to readers, of how readers connect to one another, and the stories each of us have to tell one another. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
The Paris Architect, by Charles Belfoure. This is my book club's pick for our November meeting. It is 1942 in German-occupied Paris, and gifted architect Lucien Bernard has accepted a commission that will earn him a great deal of money, and quite possibly get him killed. His benefactor asks him to create hiding places for wealthy Jews being smuggled out of the country, hiding places so ingenious that no German officer could ever find them. And Lucien does these jobs, studiously ignoring the personal aspects...until one of his jobs fails, and Lucien's work becomes very personal, indeed. Belfoure, an architect himself, brings his knowledge to every detail. This was an enthralling read, and one I can't wait to discuss with our group.
Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell. I adore Rainbow Rowell's work, YA and adult titles alike. Her YA books do not condescend to the reader; she meets them on equal ground. Here, Park is used to being a relative oddity in his 1986 Omaha neighborhood, one of two (his brother being the other) half Korean kids in their entire school. His method of coping with teasing on the bus is to ignore the others, listening to loud music on his headphones and reading comic books. Then the new girl gets on the bus, a pale girl with a ton of red hair, an immediate new target for the bullies in the back seats. There's nowhere for her to sit except next to Park, and this is how the unlikeliest of friendships grows over the course of the school year together. Bittersweet and heartbreakingly honest, this was a book I devoured over the course of two evenings, I couldn't do anything else until I knew how it ended.
The Summer That Made Us, by Robyn Carr. Two sisters had three daughters each, and they all spent summers at their family lake house. Those were the best of times. Until tragedy struck one summer, and everyone scattered, and the family was no longer close and each woman went her separate way. Until tragedy becomes the catalyst to bring them together again, decades later. It's a story of loss and of hope and rebuilding one's life after catastrophe, of learning and loving and moving on. And while it was interesting and certainly readable, it felt a bit unfinished, maybe a little rushed. There were story lines left unfinished, sub-plots left unexplored, as though there was too much in the beginning to tie up in the end. Which makes me wonder whether this might be the first in a new series? Time will tell.
The Little French Bistro, by Nina George. I enjoyed this one so much, I couldn't keep it to myself. You can read my review here.
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