Armada

Armada by Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, is not the typical book I read, but I was in the mood for something different. Aliens are finally invading Earth and the worlds best video gamers are called into a real live battle that they've been training for their whole lives without knowing it.

Filled with all the 80's pop-culture references from movies, to music to old video games one would expect from Cline, I was in for the ride. Although not as good as Ready Player One, this book was a lot of fun.

Summer Island

 Summer Island is another novel by Kristin Hannah. A Mom and her daughters have been estranged for more than a decade. After a scandal and an accident, they all return to the island in the Pacific Northwest where they used to spend Summers together, and here the real healing begins.

I liked this book, but not as much as other books by Hannah. I found the characters and story a bit hard to believe and hard to care about. A just ok read.

Trus Colors

True Colors by Kristin Hannah is a family saga set on a ranch in Washington state. Three sisters who lose their mother when she is young, stay very close until a stranger comes to town one day and changes all their lives forever.

Hannah delves into family dynamics as well as racism and how it plays out within the judicial system. I found it fascinating and deeply moving. Her characters were well developed, flawed and honest. A great book to lose yourself in for a while.

The World in Half

The World in Half by Cristina Henriquez is about a daughter's search for the Father she never knew in Panama. She finds love letters he wrote years ago to her Mother, who is now suffering from Alzheimer's. Without telling her, she goes in search of her Father.

This could have been a really great book, but it drifted off and never really went anywhere. I was having a hard time caring about any of the characters. Henriquez didn't go deep enough. A just ok, mostly forgettable read.

The Fifth Avenue Artists Society

The Fifth Avenue Artists Society by Joy Callaway is set in the Bronx in the 1890's. It is a story about a family of artists, four sisters and a brother living in genteel poverty after their father dies. Ginny wants desperately to be a published author, yet struggles to find a publisher because she is a woman. When her brother brings her to a salon of artists she seems to find a place where all voices are equal, male or female, and a new life begins for her. However, there is something darker going on beneath the surface that threatens them all.

Based on the life of Callaway's own grandmother, it is a fascinating portrait of a female artist's life in late nineteenth century New York. A worthwhile read.