Mobile Library

Mobile Library by David Whitehouse is a novel about a group of misfits who somehow write their own story and become a family while traveling through England and Scotland in a huge Mobile Library.

It's a wonderful little book for all those who love stories and always imagined they could be the protagonist of a great adventure story. Funny, sweet, and entertaining; full of great characters, a good read.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal is a novel that really has very little to do with kitchens of the mid-west. We meet Eva Thorvald, the protagonist when she is just a six month old baby and can't get enough heirloom tomatoes at the Farmers Market. However, from there the book jumps around so much and introduces so many other characters, with Eva often on the periphery, we never get to know her deeply, understand, or care about her.

This is an interesting and quirky little book with some great moments, that I really wanted to like, but it never really came together for me. Food is a part of the story all the way through, yet not in the way one would expect. There were some very funny laugh out loud parts, but overall, the book was disappointing.

The Improbability of Love

The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild, the first woman chair of the National Gallery in London, is a wonderfully original and very funny novel about the absurdity of the London art market and the world's mega-rich who will do anything to own the latest hot painting.

It tells the story of Annie, a young chef, caught up in the madness by mistake and in a clever twist, many of the chapters are voiced by the painting itself.

Well written, witty, entertaining, and full of wonderful characters, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Passionate Nomad

Passionate Nomad, The Life of Freya Stark by Jane Fletcher Geniesse, is a biography of one of the most famous women travelers of the 20th century. Freya traveled through parts of the Middle East where no European woman had been before, wrote numerous books, spoke many languages, was self-taught, admired by many and disliked by even more.

Surely hers was a fascinating life, and what started out as a fascinating book was bogged down by so many names and details, and the author's disparaging remarks about her subject, that the great story was lost. I was tired and bored by the end of the book and couldn't wait to be done with it. However, Freya played an interesting part of history, especially during WWII, and lovers of history and non-fiction might find this book interesting. Better yet, read the books written by Ms.Stark herself!

House Rules

I had to take a break from reading Jodi Picoult books, as her subject matter is often disturbing. However, even though House Rules is a murder mystery, I couldn't put it down.

The main character, Jacob, is a teenager with Asperger's, and Picoult gets inside his mind so we can see how he thinks, feels, expresses himself. It was fascinating.

A well written, often hilarious, page-turner. Recommended read.

A Well-Tempered Heart

A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker is the sequel to his beautiful novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. It is now ten years later, and Julia, a lawyer in New York finds herself drawn back to visit her brother in her father's native country of Burma.

Beautifully written, and often times mystical, yet lacking the beauty of the first novel, it felt a bit contrived and left you hanging at the end. I assume there will be a third book to follow. I am still a fan of Sendker's writing, but I found this book to be a bit of a disappointment after Heartbeats.

The Table of Less Valued Knights

The Table of Less Valued Knights by Marie Phillips is a comedic take on the traditional stories of King Aurthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In this book, the less valued Knights sit at a rectangular table, with one leg shorter than the rest, far from the King, eating the leftover food.

When one of these Knights sets out on a quest hoping to redeem himself, the real comedy begins. He leaves with his Squire, a small giant riding an elephant, and a lady in distress.

Fans of Monty Python, and The Princess Bride will love it. Witty and often hilarious, this is a fun, easy read.

Land of Love and Drowning

Land of Love and Drowning, the debut by Tiphanie Yanique, is the first book I've read by an author from the Virgin Islands. Yanique's unique voice and writing style completely transported me to another world.

Set in The Virgin Islands from the time of transfer to the US in the early 1900's until the 1970's, the novel follows three generations of  Bradshaw women. Full of magic, love, island culture and a fair amount of incest, Yanique's dazzling prose is what makes this novel magical.

Yanique is a fresh new voice, an original and masterful storyteller; this is enough to make the reader overlook the flaws in the novel. A worthwhile read.

My Year with Eleanor

My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock is a memoir of a year of doing one thing each day that scares you, the idea taken from a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. I don't usually like books where women take a year off to find themselves, but this one is quite amusing.

Hancock decides to do one scary thing every day for a year, until her 30th birthday. Some of these are small things, like sending back food in a restaurant, but she also dives with sharks, goes to trapeze school and climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro, to name a few.

Its definitely entertaining to be along for the ride. A fun, easy read.