The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 36)

In the middle of colder days and longer nights, this book was a ray of sunshine and delight.

Osman’s septuagenarian sleuths who meet every Thursday in the Jigsaw Room of their retirement community (hence the name “The Thursday Murder Club’) have become quite adept and tenacious at investigating unsolved murder cases. The members of the group rely on their wide ranging experience; a police officer, a psychiatrist, a nurse, a scientist, a union agitator and one who seems to have many friends in many high places in government, to help untangle these unsolved mysteries.

But when a local developer and his partner are killed under suspicious circumstances, The Thursday Murder Club decides that they will investigate. While their methods are unorthodox and the police are skeptical, this brilliant group begins to make some headway into solving the murders, until another body is discovered.

Osman hits all the right notes. He is witty but never patronizing. His characters are three-dimensional who carry the accumulation of both joy and regret which comes from living long, full lives, but instead of wallowing in the past they are living life to its fullest and finding ways to be both relevant and helpful.

This was a delightful read. I hope we hear more from the Thursday Murder Club!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian, Lauren and Keith.

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format.

Anthem by Noah Hawley

In a dystopian near future a new pandemic begins to spread in the U.S. Only this time it affect only the young and it spreads through a meme on social media causing young people to despair and give up on living. Soon suicide rates among young people are soaring. Parents, schools, state and local governments and even Congress try everything to stop its spread but to no avail. 

In the midst of this chaos a young man named Simon Oliver decides to leave the facility in Chicago where he was recovering from his sister’s death. He joins with a man named the Prophet and a woman named Louise who are on a mission to find The Wizard, someone Louise thinks has the answers they are looking for and who just might be able to save the human race before it is too late.

Hawley who wrote the best selling Before the Fall, and the TV series Fargo, has written a powerful novel that is perceptive, imaginative and sweeping in scope. With a keen understanding he grasps the existential nature of our current condition As one of his characters says:

“I figured it out,” he repeats. “It’s grief. The five stages of death, right? Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, but we’re all trapped in the first two stages. The whole country, or maybe the Earth. We’re in denial and we’re pissed, because something we love is dead, except, for half the country, what they’re grieving is the past they think they’ve lost, and the other half is mourning the progress they thought they’d made, but everyone feels the same way. Like someone they love is dead. And I get it. I’m grieving too.”

Prescient and insightful, this is one book that we need to pay attention to as our country and world seems to be entering even more perilous times.

Brenda’s Rating: **** (4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Keith, Ken and Sharon.

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.

 

No One Will Miss her by Kat Rosenfield

It should have been the perfect murder. A small town “nobody” who was hated by everyone. No one would miss her and the case would be quietly closed. But what the killer wasn’t counting on was  Detective Ian Bird taking his job seriously and actually wanting to find out who killed Lizzie Ouellette.

Lizzie and her husband Dwayne lived on the outskirts of Copper Falls, a small struggling town in Maine. They lived by the lake just outside of town, stayed to themselves mostly and just scraped by financially due to the bad economy. But then Lizzie realized that she could rent out their small lake house as a country get-away to rich folks from the city. Soon Lizzie had some regulars, Adrienne Richards and her disgraced billionaire husband who needed to get away from the scandal that had consumed their lives. Adrienne, a high profile social influencer, was everything Lizzie dreamed of being, and Adrienne envied the simplicity of Lizzie’s life and the two became friends, as only two women from vastly different backgrounds could become.

So who killed Lizzie Ouellette?

Rosenfield has created a intriguing cast of characters and a clever plot that keeps twisting and turning in  unexpected ways! But she also asks serious questions about identity, disparities in wealth and access, and what happens when we actually get what we desire. This is a great beach read that will keep you guessing until the very end!

Brenda’s Rating: **** (4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Sharon and Keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

There once was a magical bookshop in Dublin that became a haven for a woman named Opaline in 1920. Now, Martha and Henry stumble upon Opaline’s story and begin looking for the bookshop in Dublin in hopes of finding out more about her life. Will they discover its secrets and its magic before it is too late?

Mysterious, fantastical, romantic and full of surprises, this is one of those books you just want to read and savor! It is an ode to the power of books and the written word to change live and perceptions of ourselves. As one character says ‘The thing about books, is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of,’ and for each of the characters in this book book it proves true.

Woods is a magician with words, characters and plot. She keeps putting out plot tendrils, that weave and grow into something satisfying and whole. The three characters are well developed and engaging. But I think what I love most was the way Woods uses words and descriptions that are evocative and full of wonder. This is a must read for all book lovers!

Brenda”s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Lauren, Sharon and Keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format.

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

In the small town of Jewel, Minnesota nothing ever happens. Located near the Alabaster River, the town and its surrounding farms seem idyllic and peaceful. But underneath this bubolic veneer lie deep secrets and violence. And so it is that when Sherriff Brody Dern is called out on a Memorial Day in 1958, to investigate the death of James Quinn, a wealthy landowner, he knows that this will unleash a whirlwind in this quiet town.

Before the results of the autopsy have even come back, the rumors and innuendo have already begun accusing Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran, of murdering Quinn. Bluestone, who had grown up in Jewel, had recently returned after his service overseas with a Japanese wife and they had settled on a small farm on the outskirts of town. Dern, knowing that these inflammatory rumors are based only on speculation and racism, is concerned that the rumors will cloud and obstruct his ability to thoroughly investigate Quinn’s death.

As Dern investigates, his fears come true as the town is enveloped in cries for Bluestone’s arrest or worse, for his death. In spite of his own fragile emotional health from his experiences during the war, Dern tries to thread his way through the morass of racism and irrational anger, and finds help in unlikely places, like the aging deputy who was his predecessor, the brave publisher of the local newspaper, a war widow and her young son, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom carry their own secrets and tragedies, but who bravely help and support Dern whose investigation threatens to expose the pervasive evil behind Quinn’s death.

Krueger is an author that I hold in awe. One reviewer calls this book a “work of art,” others have used the word “dazzling,” and I couldn’t agree more. Krueger’s exegesis into the ways pervasive racism and fear of others leads to injustice and violence in the fictitious town of Jewel is really a damning description of what is happening in our country as a whole. Yet, Krueger is able to hold this up and still maintains the cohesion of his storyline and develops his characters with both delicacy and integrity. Dern is not a super hero, he is man with many qualms and fears, and yet he tries to find a way to do what is honorable and to discover what is true. This is a book that makes you think about the many ways we can stand up to hatred and fear, but does not sugar coat how much it may cost us to do so. I have reflected on this amazing book so many times since I finished reading it. I hope you put this on your “to read” list as soon as possible!

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Sharon, Marian and Ken

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

I think this book has been on every “must read” or “best book of the year” book list I have seen recently. I tend to be a bit skeptical about such lists, as my taste and the taste of those list makers tends to diverge a bit, but not this time! This is a special book that is both historic fiction and mystery and highlights the power of people coming together when they want to right a terrible wrong. It also describes in great detail a time and place that as a white person I know little about. For those of us who are trying to overcome the serious deficiencies of our education about the historic roots of racism and white privilege this is a definite must read!

In 1972 the city of Pottstown, Pennsylvania began a development project in an area of the city known as Chicken Hill. But construction suddenly had to stop once they discovered a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who was it and how did they die? It was a secret that the residents of Chicken Hill had long kept-a reminder that when you band together you can overcome enormous odds to right a terrible wrong.

Chicken Hill in the 1930’s was a busy place. Jewish immigrants, Blacks who were moving from the south in the Great Migration, and European immigrants coming to escape famine and war, all found a place in Chicken Hill. Moshe and Chona Ludlow were residents there. Moshe ran a popular theatre and Chona ran the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. Chona’s grocery store was integral to the life and well being of the community because Chona knew who needed an extra hand, a new job, more food to feed their children and medicine to keep them healthy. If you needed help, Chona would help. Maybe it was because China herself was disabled, or maybe it was because she had grown up in Chicken Hill, and knew everyone, but whatever the reason, her kindness and generosity were well known. So it is no wonder that when Nate Timblin, the janitor for Moshe’s theatre, learned that the state was coming to take Dodo, the deaf boy he was fostering, to institutionalize him, he came to Chona for help. Together they came up with a plan to keep the boy safe. But something dreadful happened, and Dodo who was a witness, is captured and institutionalized before he can even think about telling.

Devastated but not defeated, the citizens of Chicken Hill begin to rally together, sharing precious information and slowly formulate a plan to help save Dodo. But will it succeed? Or is the body at the bottom of the well proof that they failed?

James McBride, wrote a memoir about his Jewish immigrant mother called The Color of Water, which has become a classic piece of literature and on many high school reading lists. He clearly understands the unique history and inter-relationship that Jews and Blacks share in the racism and inequality they experienced and which segregated them from white Protestant American society with all its privilege, access to education, jobs and wealth. His writing is filled with historic detail, the beauty in the differences in language and cadence of his characters, and his strong sense of respect and love for the people of Chicken Hill.

Although this book starts out slow and there are a confusing number of characters who are introduced right from the start, do not give up! The reward comes when Dodo and his story begins to emerge and then you being to understand why the beginning part was so important to the totality of the story. I know that for me this story and the people that it represents has become a part of my recognition of the pervasiveness of our racist past and the enormous wounds that still need to be healed.

Brenda’s Rating:***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Everyone!

Book Study Worthy? YES, YES!

Read in ebook format.

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

I was first introduced to Tan Twan Eng by reading The Garden of Evening Mists which I loved. Eng knows how to evoke the sounds, smells and the moist air of Southeast Asia perfectly. The House of Doors is another evocative book that draws you in and doesn’t let go.

The year is 1921 and Lesley and Robert Hamlyn are living at Cassowary House in the Strait Settlement of Penang (which is now a part of Malaysia.)  Robert, a lawyer and a war veteran has been recently diagnosed with a degenerative disease, but has been able to continue his practice thus far. Lesley, an introvert by nature, must socialize with the other mostly British expats in the area, even though she would prefer to read and indulge in writing poetry. They live a comfortable, if somewhat mundane kind of life.

Then Somerset Maugham the famous writer, and his secretary, Gerald arrive. Willie, as he is known to his friends, went to school with Robert and needed to escape from his expensive marriage of convenience, a threatening scandal over his homosexuality, and the sudden news that he has lost all his savings. Desperate to recover his fortune Maugham hopes that here in an outpost of the British Empire he might find a new subject for a book.

Initially, Lesley seems like an intriguing subject, especially after Maugham discovers that she knew and had even worked with the Chinese revolutionary, Dr, Sun Yat Sen. But he soon discovers that Lesley is living a much more complicated life than he imagined and as their friendship deepens, Lesley reveals a surprisingly complicated story of scandal and betrayal surrounding a trial of an English woman accused of murder. Here indeed is the subject of the novel that will save Maugham’s career.

Eng writes delicately and simply, but that is deceptive, because there is a strength to his writing that pulls you into the story and holds you there until the last page. His characters are complicated and he writes about this era of colonialism with integrity and honesty. Lesley is one of the most complicated characters I have been introduced to in a long time. At first I didn’t really identify with her but slowly as she revealed herself to be so much more than an expat wife, I began to appreciate her resillience and integrity. Eng uses Maugham as a foil to draw out the other characters, but does not allow him to overwhelm the story. This was long listed for the Booker Prize and was a named a “notable work of fiction” by the Washington Post and and an “Editor’s Choice” by the New York Times, recognition which was truly deserved.

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Sharon, Ken and Keith.

Book Study Worthy! YES!

Read in ebook format.

The Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

I had been looking for a good fantasy series for awhile now and then I stumbled onto this series by Yarros. I put them on hold at the library since they were labelled YA and sometimes something labeled Young Adult can be a bit too childish for me to invest in. But I kept on reading reviews proclaiming how wonderful these books were and I would check my hold at the library and I was still 546th in line! Then my daughter asked if there was any book I would like for Christmas and I broke down and asked for the first book in the series. What a gift!  These books are amazing! Before I was even done with the first one, I ordered the second and now I am biting my fingernails in anticipation of the third in the series which has yet to be released! So, don’t be a Brenda! If you like fantasy, thrills, suspense and a steamy love story then get these books-immediate!

When your mother is the commanding general of the army and in charge of the Dragon Riders- the most elite fighting force in Navarre, you have limited choices. Violet Sorengall wanted to be come a scrbe, like her father, and live among the books and scrolls in the library especially since she had been fragile and sickly most of her life. But her father’s sudden death and the mounting concerns of invasion at the borders have changed things for Violet, and her mother has ordered her to take the test to become a Dragon Rider. The test is brutally strenuous even for someone who is strong, so Violet is not even sure she will survive the test, but even if she does, she is certain she will not survive the choosing. For it is dragons that choose their riders and it is well known that dragons only choose the most worthy and strong, and those who are not chosen or are weak are incinerated.

It is not only dragons who will be her enemies, however. Her mother has made many enemies, one of who is Xaden Riorson, the son of a traitor who was executed by her mother. In a questionable act of mercy her mother allowed the traitors’ children to go through the testing to become dragon riders and Xaden and some others passed and are now a part of the elite force, but their understandable enmity towards her mother is well known. But somehow like a moth to a flame, Violet is drawn to Xaden.

Clearly Yarros has taken the “warrior quest” story line and created something intriguing and new. The protagonist is a woman and she is not super human or strong, but rather weak, suffers from a debilitating physical condition and yet she perseveres. She has an enemy but their relationship is complicated by feelings of mutual attraction. Her mother who is supposed to be nurturing is instead, tough and remote, putting her service to country above all else. All of this is mixed in with the relationships with the dragons who at some points are the most reliable narrators in this complicated story. But that is enough from me. Read the books-you will not be disappointed!

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Lauren, Marian and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Lana Farrar, a reclusive movie star, feels a bit unsettled in her life. She feels that something is not right but she can’t quite put her finger on just what is wrong. There is the recent conversation she has has with her son who wants to be a movie star, and her own reluctance for him to experience the difficulties of that kind of life- difficulties that caused her to give up her career at its peak.  There is also her relationship with her husband, which although having had some bumps along the road, seems to be in a good place now. Or is it? Then there is her best friend, a fellow actress, who is struggling with her role in a play. Maybe they need to all get away just as her confidant, Elliot Chase, suggested- away to the island she owns in Greece.

Now you know the set up and all you need to do now is sit next to the bar as Elliot Chase narrates the terrible events that took place on the island during that Easter get-away. He will leave nothing out: there was a murder, a betrayal, jealousy and debts that needed to be repaid which are all a part of this story. So sit a while, have a drink and listen as everything is revealed.

Michaelides has created a very complicated and twisty whodunnit! By using a favorite Agatha Christie trope of the “closed room,” he gives a slight bow to the historical antecedents of the mystery genre but reinvigorates it by his clever plotting and his interesting use of non-linear storytelling.  Like  his previous book, The Silent Patient, you must read until the last page to finally get the answer to whodunnit!

Brenda’s Rating: *****( 5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Marian, Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format.

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

Molly the Maid is back! She is now Head Maid at the 5-star Regency Grand Hotel and in charge of the special reception that is being held for J.D. Grimthorpe, the celebrated mystery writer. This should be a moment of celebration and pride for Molly, but just as Grimthorpe begins his remarks, he falls to the floor, dead. To add to Molly’s horror and confusion, Detective Stark, her nemesis, determines that Grimthorpe was murdered by something in the tea he was served just before he began his remarks.

Who killed J.D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lilly the new maid who served him the tea? Or the author’s secretary who disappeared immediately after Grimthorpe died? Or was it Mr. Preston, the doorman at the Grand Regency who seems to have something to hide. And what about Molly? Is she hiding something that might implicate her?

As Detective Stark, in her imitable way, follows every false trail to find the killer, Molly realizes that she must investigate the murder herself to clear the people she loves. To do this she must explore painful memories from the past, for the secret Molly is hiding is that her Gran had worked for the Grimthorpe’s and for a period of time Molly had gone with her Gran to help with the chores and had met and talked with J. D. himself. Even though it will be painful, Molly knows that those memories might help solve this crime.

This was a wonderful and fun book to read! I love Molly! I also love how this series, among others, is creating understanding towards those who are neurodivergent while celebrating their special and unique gifts. Prose is a confident writer and her deft plotting, with unexpected twists and turns makes this a classic whodunnit to savor and enjoy!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Lauren and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? yes

Read in ebook format.

Trust by Hernan Diaz

This book explores the idea of history and by whom and how that history is written. Someone once said that history is written by the victors and, as Diaz points out, history is also written by the wealthy and powerful who can control that narrative. But is that the truth?

The first third of this book is a “novel” by Howard Vanner, loosely based on the life of legendary Wall Street tycoon, Benjamin Rask and his wife, Helen. Written in 1937, the book traces Rask’s rise, explores the questionable sources of their immense fortune and enumerates unseemly details of their personal lives.

As might be expected from a ruthless man of wealth and power, Rask decides to rebut these scurillous accusations by writing a book of his own and hires a secretary to take dictation and to help him pull together a book that will tell the truth about his family, his accumulation of wealth and his relationship with Helen. But as the project moves forward, his secretary, Ida Partenza, begins to see first hand how truth is shaded, unseemly details overlooked or molded so they are more palatable, and uncomfortable realities ignored. As Ida works on the project she keeps being confronted with uncomfortable questions about truth, who gets to control the narrative, and whether History, as such, can ever be completely truthful.

This Pulitzer Prize winning book asks big questions and although at times it feels a bit convoluted and the sudden change in narration jarring, it is well worth these slight discomforts to get to the shocking twist at the end.

Diaz is a confident writer who creates the unique world of the Rask family in order to explore some powerful and slightly subversive questions about the stories we tell about ourselves, our families and our country. This would be great Book Club book!

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Sharon, Ken and Marian

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.