Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere is the brilliant new novel by Celeste Ng.The book is set in Shaker Heights, a planned community in Ohio, where everyone follows the rules, and all are wealthy. In moves an artist and her daughter who never stay put for long, have very little money, and do things differently. They befriend their landlord's family and all their lives are forever changed.

In the background is the custody battle for a Chinese baby whose mother left her when she was born, but now wants her back. Ng explores so many things in this richly nuanced novel, from cultural identity, to family values, the power of art, questioning the status quo, to finding your own identity, to name just a few. A great read.

Chemistry

Finally a book I loved!

Chemistry is the debut novel by Weike Wang. With deceptively simple prose, Wang explores what it means to succeed in a field full of men. She delves into family loyalty, love, relationships, and the complexities of finding your own place in the world.

Intelligent, witty, funny, honest; a great read.

The From Aways

The From Aways by CJ Hauser is a novel about life in a small town in Maine. Two outsiders who move to town become unlikely friends and work to save the town with the locals from other rich outsiders who threaten to change the way of life in this lobster fishing village.

I wasn't pulled in by the characters, the story or the writing, and it didn't make me want to visit small town Maine, although I know it is lovely there. I found this book disappointing.

Icy Sparks

Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio is a wonderful novel about ten year old Icy growing up in rural Kentucky in the 50's with her grandparents. Icy starts exhibiting signs of Tourette's Syndrome after her tenth birthday, but this goes undiagnosed until she is an adult.

What follows is a beautifully written story of how Icy deals with this. At turns sad, funny, honest; Icy is one of the best characters I've come across in a long time. A great read.

The Woman in the Photograph

The Woman in the Photograph by Dana Gynther is historical fiction about Lee Miller, the woman who was Man Ray's muse in Paris in the 20's. This was a very creative time and place full of artists, musicians, new ideas etc.

I usually love historical fiction, but found this book left me feeling empty, like I hadn't really connected to or learned much about the characters or the period. An interesting subject matter, yet not very well realized. Disappointing.

Two Sisters

Two Sisters by Mary Hogan is a sad story of a family that has been split apart and only at the end come together when one sister is dying of cancer. The mother never finds out until it is too late. Younger sister Muriel was mistreated her whole life by her mother and older sister and wants nothing much to do with her family, her brother already escaped years earlier to New Mexico.

There is some redemption when the sisters find compassion and forgiveness at the end, but overall I found it a rather depressing story with a handful of good moments.

Queen of the Tearling

Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is book one in a trilogy. I had no idea when this was supposed to be set until I looked it up online. It is a sad picture of a post apocalyptic future in which slavery is back, along with most other horrors of our past, yet books and medicine and knowledge seem to have disappeared.

Nineteen year old Kelsea who has just become queen is a formidable and educated young woman meant to change all this. The story was somewhat interesting, although most of the characters were not well enough developed to understand or care about. A mildly entertaining read that falls flat when compared to others in this genre.