A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor

Why do I do this to myself? This year, I've been trying to expand my reading horizons, and have ended up reading a lot of literary fiction and non-fiction. Try as I might, I don't enjoy literary fiction. Case in point below.

A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.0/5.0 - I don't know what to say about this. It must have been a great book, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1987), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Fiction (1987), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (1986), and National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (1987). It just wasn't for me.
The narrator, Phillip Carver, reminisces throughout the book about how moving from Nashville to Memphis at a tender age ruined his life, as well as his mother and his siblings'. Then, to add insult to injury, the father chases off both his sisters' and his true loves, so none of them ever marry. The third sibling escapes the family by going off to war (WWII) where he is killed. No one lives happily ever after, and in his old age, the father receives his comeuppance when the sisters chase off a young woman he wishes to marry and prevent him from seeing a friend who betrayed him years ago.
This was a painful book to read, although its saving grace was that it was short.

Pop Sugar #45: The book that's been on your TBR list for the longest amount of time


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Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - I loved this book, in part because it was such a nice change from all the non-fiction and literary fiction that I've been reading lately. I just couldn't put it down. Polly and Chris have lost their business and are faced with bankruptcy and finding new places to live. Polly moves to Mount Polbearne, off the Cornish coast, while Chris moves back in with his mommy. Polly makes the best of her new life, baking bread and working in a bakery and in no time she has become part of the town, befriended or beloved by all (except maybe her boss). As time passes even that changes, and the temporary stay turns permanent for her.
So I have to confess to crying during the funeral scene where they are singing the Navy Hymn (Eternal Father, Strong to Save). When I saw the words, I heard them in my mind, and I was right back at my dad's funeral. Tomorrow is his 99th birthday. Anyway, it was a good book, and I think I'll read more of the series.
Pop Sugar #30: A book set somewhere you'd like to visit in 2021
Book 91 of 2021


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The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs

The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nina Riggs is a young mother whose mother is dying from cancer when she gets her own diagnosis. Her family history includes being a descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose writings are peppered throughout the book, and having many, many family members succumb to cancer. Her sons are 8 and 10, and she battles for every day with them. She shares her feelings, fears, and hopes for the future in this short memoir that she finishes just weeks before passing.
Book 90 of 2021

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Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded to 4 stars - This is my third Ruth Reichl book, and like the other two - Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table and Delicious!, this did not disappoint. Ruth shares her experiences in the late 1990s of being the NYT food critic. In order to experience a restaurant as an ordinary diner, she developed a number of alter egos, from the nice Betty to the nasty Emily. She has such a way of describing food that it's almost like being there with her. In addition to the restaurant reviews, she also includes several recipes for everything from risotto primavera to roast leg of lamb. She makes food accessible and enticing.
Book 89 of 2021

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The Navajo Code Talkers by Doris Atkinson Paul

The Navajo Code Talkers by Doris Atkinson Paul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.0/5.0 - Written from primary sources, this book documents the essential services by members of the Navajo tribe during World War II, when they served as Marines and transmitted important messages in a code derived from the Navajo language. They were especially critical in the battle for Iwo Jima. Their service was not limited to code, though, and they developed a reputation for being some of the toughest men to serve in the Marines. Besides the normal dangers of battle, they also faced the additional threat of being mistaken for a Japanese soldier, and there were more than a few close calls.
Book 87 of 2021

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Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 - This book was Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020. The events in the story are bookended by the Tulsa race massacre in 1921 and 9/11. The book opens with Melody's coming out party, hosted by her grandparents, Sabe and Po'Boy. Melody is 16, smart, beautiful and the child of Aubrey and Iris. She was conceived when her mother was just shy of 16, and raised by her father and grandparents. Iris wanted more from life than being a wife and mother and left the family for college when Melody was just a toddler.
The book is about the dreams we have, and starting over, making things better for the next generation. Love and loss, hope and despair, are all themes that track the lives of these characters. I had a few issues with the book, which made it a 3.5, rather than a full 4 star. First, the two LBGTQ characters seemed like an after thought, and the part where Iris' breasts leaked milk when she was at college just wasn't believable for me. Other than that, it was a good book, and the second one I have read by this author.
Book 86 of 2021

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The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - I quite enjoyed this book. Being a librarian whose passion is visiting libraries, I found the setting to be very interesting. I liked that one of the main characters was a librarian, and the dual timeline, multi-generational aspect worked for me, as well. Perhaps the highlight of the book was p. 147 where Amelia invite Laura for tea at "Patchin Place" which I immediately recognized because E.E. Cummings had a residence there. He painted a still life called "Flowers and Hat: Patchen Place" and can be found on Brockport's institutional repository.
Pop Sugar #18: A book about a subject you are passionate about
Book 84 of 2021


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The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - Ernest Gaines captures 100 years of Black history through the voice of Miss Jane Pittman, who is born a slave but dies a free woman in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Era. As a child, at the end of the Civil War, she travels with a group heading to Ohio, where a Union soldier has assured her she will have a better life. But vigilante riders catch and kill most of her group, with the exception of her and a small boy, Ned, who manage to hide. She raises him to adulthood, only to see him be killed for teaching children to read. Throughout her life, people she loves are taken away, her husband, Joe Pittman is killed by a wild stallion, and later, Jimmy, a sharecropper's son who takes up the Civil Rights mantle is killed before he is set to speak at a march.
Gaines' characters are multidimensional, all have faults and redeeming qualities. The plot draws you in and you are soon lost in the story, as if you are living it yourself. This was my second book by Ernest J. Gaines, having first read A Lesson Before Dying last year. He is one of the authors who spoke at the Brockport Writers Forum, and whose interview I posted in our institutional repository.
I listened to the Blackstone audio book, narrated by Tonya Jordan. For the most part, it was an enjoyable experience, but every so often the volume would get unexpectedly loud, as if the reader had just picked up the story again, or turned in her chair. Still, the portrayal of Miss Jane was wonderful, and her way of repeating words for emphasis (sweet, sweet) very interesting.
Book 83 of 2021

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A Column of Fire by Ken Follett

A Column of Fire by Ken Follett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - I loved this book, as I did the two earlier volumes in the series. Follett brings 16th century Elizabethan England to life against the backdrop of religious discord. When the book opens, the country is Catholic, under Mary Tudor's rule. But when she dies, her half-sister, Elizabeth reigns as a Protestant and the tide is turned against the Catholics. Those who were persecuted are now in power, those once in power must go underground and foment unrest and political intrigue, plotting to overthrow Elizabeth, in favor of Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. Throughout the book, two families, the Willards and the Fitzgeralds are constantly at odds. Young Ned Willard, son of rich merchant Alice, is in love with Margery Fitzgerald, but her family, being Catholic and social climbers wed her to the son of the Earl. After his mother is ruined financially by the Fitzgeralds, Ned decides to go in service to Elizabeth, as a spy. The intrigue covers two continents and fifty years, with fortunes made and lost, and love and families created and destroyed.
Pop Sugar #47: A book from your TBR list you associate with a favorite person, place, or thing
Book 81 of 2021


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Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 - I listened to the audio book from Audible, and I believe I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the print edition. The story is told through two perspectives and timelines- that of Marisol, visiting Havana in 2017 from Miami, and Elisa, her grandmother, who grew up in Havana and left in 1958. Elisa's story is framed by the Cuban Revolution. The man she falls in love with is a revolutionary, as is her brother. Both are brutally killed, she believes. Elisa's father is a sugar baron, and the family's lives are in danger when Castro takes power and so they escape to the United States. Almost sixty years later, her granddaughter, Marisol, a journalist, comes back to Cuba to bring her grandmother's ashes home, and to learn more about the family and friends she left behind. This is the first of four books in The Cuba Saga, it would be interesting to read more.
AtY #35: A book set in a country on or below the Tropic of Cancer
Book 80 of 2021

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The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan

The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.0/5.0 - Told by a young Persian woman, author, and chef who left Iran following the Islamic Revolution, this book shows how terrible and heartbreaking be courageous can be. Noor and her brother Mehrdad are sent to their uncle in California when they are 18 and 19 years old. Noor, especially, does not understand why their baba-jan has sent them away and longs for home. But Zod, their father, knows to stay would be dangerous, perhaps even fatal, and though it breaks his heart and theirs, they must go. Zod owns the Café Leila, keeping it open during good times and bad, feeding anyone who walks in the door, and beloved by all. Before her untimely death, the secret behind which he never shares with his children. (view spoiler)[ She is killed for being a woman and insulting a cab driver. She is kept in prison for months, being tortured, until she is hanged the day after they allow her husband to see her. Her body is never returned to the family, and the children are unaware. (hide spoiler)]
Zod finally gives Noor permission to come home, when he is dying. She brings her daughter, Lily, who has never known her Iranian roots. In the end, Noor realizes she must stay, at least for a time, to carry on her father's dream and to try and improve life for those who remain.
AtY #39: A book involving an immigrant
Book 78 of 2021


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Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas L. Friedman

Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas L. Friedman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.0/5.0 - This has been on my TBR since 2016, right after it first came out. I had previously read his book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, and liked it. Five years later, the book seems a little dated, or at least some of the technological innovations that he was so impressed with, iPhone, AirBnB, Android, LED lighting to name a few, are things we take for granted today. But for Friedman, the world changed in 2007.
The book could be summed up in a few sentences. First community is essential for us to survive and thrive, whether the community is your neighborhood, country, the global community or even the universe. Lifelong learning is something we must embrace at all levels. Finally, universal application of the Golden Rule could solve a multitude of problems.
AtY #47: A non-fiction book other than biography, autobiography or memoir
Book 75 of 2021 (halfway to my reading goal of 150 books)


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The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 - Thirty-three years later, Fannie Flagg has written the sequel to Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe. Taking up the story of Ruth and Idgie's son, Buddy, this book is also told in a fluid timeline. Evelyn, from Whistle Stop has been very successful, first in Mary Kay Cosmetics, then selling Cadillacs and owning several dealerships, and finally managing an investment portfolio that includes several real estate holdings. Ruthie, Bud's daughter, marries Brooke, from Atlanta society, and although they have a good marriage, they live next door to his rather snobbish mother, Martha, who has never really accepted Ruthie or her family. Time passes, as it does, and Martha's husband dies, as does Ruth's mother, and Ruth's husband, Brooke. Bud moves into a senior living community, but one day decides he wants to see Whistle Stop one more time. He gets on a train, but gets lost looking for the old town. Night is falling when, through a series of events, he is found my a rescue squad, and taken to a Birmingham hospital. Evelyn sees the story on tv, and realizes that it must be Ninny's nephew, and contacts Ruthie and the adventure of a lifetime soon begins.
This was definitely a happy ever after book, and the racism that made me uncomfortable in the first book doesn't exist in this one.
Book 74 of 2021

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Step-Ball-Change by Jeanne Ray (a five star book read in 2019)

Step-Ball-Change by Jeanne Ray

This review is from Jan 2019, but I came across it today, and the story made me smile.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a letter from my co-in-law (aka the mother-in-law of my child), and being a librarian herself, she sent me a list of books she had recently read that she thought I would enjoy. Mind you, the letter was dated 2004, which was well before in-law status, but did I mention we were best friends back in college?
This was a delightful, read in one or a few sittings book, and I'd recommend it to the following type of readers:
1. Someone with a sister
2. Anyone who likes a good chic-flick now and then
3. Dancers, mothers-of-dancers, or grandmothers-of-dancers...Well, you get the gist.
I actually read this without a thought of it meeting a challenge prompt, but when I looked at my list, here was Week 40. A book you stumbled upon... 

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Trials and Tribulations - The Robinswood Story Book 3 by Jean Grainger

Trials and Tribulations - The Robinswood Story Book 3 by Jean Grainger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5/5.0 - I am sad to see this series end, but I think it ended well. Each book in this three book series got better and I enjoyed watching Eve, Aisling, and Kate grow up. In the end, even "Lady" Lillian did, too. A new generation of children were born, and an older beloved character dies. Throughout all the trials and tribulations, love and family loyalty keeps them going.
AtY #36: Related to "The End" (the last two words in the book are The End.)
Book 69 of 2021


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Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera (warning - may contain triggers)

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - Best book that I've read so far this year, and it's a debut novel, to boot. Historical fiction set in 1924 in South Carolina, it's the story of three strong women from different walks of life whose lives intertwine. Annie is the matriarch of the leading family in the town, owner of The Sewing Circle, and mother of 7 children, four who survived childhood and are now adults. She is haunted by the death of her son, Buck, when he committed suicide at the age of twelve. Retta, first generation freed-slave, has worked for the family for years, as did her mother and grandmother before. Gertrude is a poor woman whose husband beats her and her daughters, and drinks away all their money, leaving them to starve. The truths they find out, the actions they talk, the strength they share are told through their three voices. There may be triggers for some, so be aware - domestic abuse, child abuse, murder, suicide, and some historically accurate use of the N-word (view spoiler)[the author addresses this:

I wrestled with whether or not to use the N-word in this novel. It is a word I deeply despise, but to avoid it felt dishonest to the place and time. Historically...it has been used as a tool to systematically degrade and dehumanize an entire race of people. To ignore its existence is to ignore the plight of what the African American community has endured at the hands of the white majority. I've used the word sparingly in these pages to demonstrate the low moral arc of a society...p. 343 in the background notes

(hide spoiler)]

AtY #40: A book with flowers or greenery on the cover
Book 68 of 2021

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Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P. Wood

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P. Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - I loved this book! I hope they make it into a movie or mini-series, there was so much to the story. The large cast of characters were well fleshed out, it was well researched, the plot was clever and moved along. I would definitely read another book by this author.
AtY #43: A book with elements of magic
Book 67 of 2021


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Ladies of the Lake by Haywood Smith

Ladies of the Lake by Haywood Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 - Enjoyable read about four sisters - Dahlia, Iris, Violet and Rose, who must spend the summer together at their deceased grandmother's lake house, in order to inherit it. Dahlia, the primary character is recently divorced and her husband has run off with their teenage son to avoid prosecution, leaving her broke and alone. The sisters range in age from Rose, the youngest at 52 to Dahlia, the oldest at 60. I liked the fact that this was a story about mature women, and sibling interactions. There were two sets of siblings in the story. The sisters, and the Slocum siblings. The Slocums, including Clete, who is the hero of the story are tightly bound and supportive of each other. The sisters, have issues going way back to childhood, and that is part of the reason the grandmother puts this condition on the inheritance.
While I'm not sure you would classify this as Christian fiction, faith is very important to both Dahlia and Clete (view spoiler)[ and although the sisters urge Dahlia to go to bed with Clete, she doesn't believe in sex outside of marriage (hide spoiler)].
AtY #33: Title Refers to People Without Naming Them
Book 65 of 2021


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Return to Robinswood: An Irish family saga by Jean Grainger

Return to Robinswood: An Irish family saga. by Jean Grainger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0/5.0 - I have struggled with what makes a book a 5 star, but today I've decided that it's one where I don't want to put it down (i.e. a page turner) and, if part of a series, I immediately want to read the next book. By this definition, this was a 5 star book. I enjoyed seeing how the Murphys and the Keneficks would work together to rehabilitate Robinswood, what the sisters would be up to, and learn a little more about the post-war situation in the UK. Lillian was a much more likeable character in this book, as she braved a segregated south to rescue her fiancé from a Mississippi prison, her mother overcomes her concerns about what will people think (about her biracial grandchild, for one) and accepts and loves Austina, Beau and Lillian's baby. As I write this review, I wonder whether racism really was so much less rampant in England than it was in the US, as this and the Bridgerton series would imply, or whether it is a case of authors rewriting history.
Pop Sugar #33: A book featuring three generations (grandparent, parent, child)
Book 63 of 2021


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