My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry is the latest book by Swedish author Fredrik Backman. It follows seven year old Elsa on a journey of discovery as she attempts to give letters to all the people her Grandmother wants to apologize to after she dies. Her Grandmother was her very best and only friend, and she was a little bit crazy. They shared a made up world and language, and now Elsa is left on her own to discover the meaning behind her Grandmother's fairy tales.

Wonderfully written, full of great characters, funny and full of heart, it's hard not to fall in love with Elsa. A great read that celebrates what it means to be different.

The Oleander Sisters

The Oleander Sisters by Elaine Hussey is a novel set in Biloxi Mississippi on the Gulf Coast in 1969 as hurricane Camille fast approaches. Sis, Sweet Mama, Beulah, and Jim all rally around Emily when she decides to marry a man they all know to be abusive.

There is little here that is original and I thought I'd die if I had to read the words Amen Cobbler one more time. This is one to skip.

LaRose

LaRose by Louise Erdrich is another of her novels about the Ojibwe people of North Dakota. This one opens with Landreaux, a recovered alcoholic, out hunting deer, and mistakenly shooting and killing his neighbors five year old son. As everyone involved is devastated by this accident, Landreaux turns to an old Ojibwe tradition of giving his five year old son LaRose to his neighbors in retribution.

What follows is one of the most painful, brilliant and ultimately redeeming novels I've reading in a long time. Erdrich is an incredible writer and storyteller. I found this book both amazing and hard to get through because of its stark honesty and unflinching look at grief, family, justice and how we cope with the unthinkable. The character of LaRose is a marvel, not soon to be forgotten.

The Tea Planters Wife

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries is a historical fiction set in Ceylon during the 1920's. A young Englishwoman marries a tea plantation owner and moves to Ceylon, only to discover that his family has many dark secrets she is unaware of.

It is a novel about race and culture, prejudice, guilt and family, and of course, tea. Jeffries captures the cultural tensions between the locals and Europeans as well as the tension between the Sinhalese people and the Tamils that still exists today. I loved being transported back in time to a tea plantation in Ceylon. An enjoyable read.

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is one of the most famous mystery novels of all time, so I finally got around to reading it. Full of wonderful characters and a wonderful story, Christie weaves a tale of intrigue that only Poirot could untangle, as I certainly could not.

Although I don't usually go in for murder mysteries, this was a very clever and entertaining read.