The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

 Fiction by Ernest J. Gaines

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a fictional account of an interview with a 110-year-old former slave conducted in the late sixties. Miss Jane is quite a character, and her life story is very interesting! I didn’t care for the ending as much.

Apparently this is a classic of sorts; it was originally published in 1971. This audiobook version is newer; I’m not sure about the narrator but I did enjoy the book. 

By the way, there is rather extensive use of the N-word in this book, which I understand is consistent with the history of the story, but can be jarring. Don't listen to the audiobook where anyone can hear it out of context!

Cut

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this true story by a British foster carer, 13-year-old Dawn comes into the foster system because her mother can’t seem to make her go to school, and says she has become unmanageable. The child has been shuttled back and forth between her divorced parents and no one is owning up to the reason Dawn seems so disturbed.

I am on a real kick of reading these Cathy Glass books; this one is her very first chronologically, although not the first one published. All these books are good. I’m planning to make a list of all her books on the correct order. 

 I also read recently by this author: Damaged

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow

 Fiction by Olivia Hawker

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

On a lonely prairie out west in the late nineteenth century, there are only two houses anywhere near each other, and a fight between the two homesteaders leaves one man dead and the other in jail. The two women are left alone with their children to fend for themselves through the winter.

This story is about how the two families learn to put differences aside and help each other. Apparently it is loosely based on some of the author’s own family history.

The Life We Bury

 Fiction by Allen Eskens

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was an interesting story about a young man who has to write a biography for a college writing assignment, and he chooses a convicted murderer as his subject. So the story is about the guy who is writing in the present, and his family, and about the murder in the past. 

The Girl With the Golden Scissors

 Fiction by Julia Drosten

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a historical fiction story originally written in German and set in Austria/Hungary. It follows a girl called Fanny who is given away at birth to the foundling home in Vienna and grows up there.

This was a decent story but not as absorbing as I'd have liked. Maybe it was the translation? Also I didn't love the narrator, which makes a big difference in an audiobook. I think if you are someone who really enjoys a straight romance you would like it.

Love in the Present Tense

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story begins with a thirteen-year-old girl called Pearl who barely has a chance in life and ends up a single mother way too soon. Later on, her son Leonard develops a friendship Mitch, a man who lives next door to them. There is also Barb, an older woman who is having an affair with Mitch, and Jake and Mona, a couple who take in foster kids. The lives of these people become intertwined in a strange way.

This was a really good story that brought the characters to life.

I also read recently by this author: Diary of a Witness

The Vanishing Half

 Fiction by Britt Bennet

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Desiree and Stella are identical twins growing up in the 1950's in the small town of Mallard, Louisiana. Mallard is almost like a clan or a village; everyone is kind of related, and everyone is a light-skinned Black person. The girls can't wait to escape this stifling place where everybody is the same, and they run away to New Orleans at age sixteen.

In 1968, Desiree comes back with a dark-skinned daughter and no husband, and we discover that Stella vanished years before. Speculation is that Stella has "crossed over," taking advantage of her light skin in order to "pass" as white. 

This story really made me think about the characters and their choices; both girls are trying to escape from their past and only partially succeeding. It's a very good story.

A Beautiful Terrible Thing

Subtitled: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal

Nonfiction by Jen Waite

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a memoir by an author who wrote a fiction book I recently read (see below.) It's about, basically, the disintegration of her marriage, which happens right after the birth of her baby. Her husband is the reason: he seems to completely change his personality as soon as she is no longer solely focused on him; he cheats on her and lies about it repeatedly; he pretends to have a medical problem to gain sympathy.

In the book, she identifies his behavior problems as sociopathy; to me he seems like a plain old narcissistic jerk. Admittedly, the tool she uses to diagnose her husband is a Google search, so she may or may not be accurate in her assessment.

It was an interesting story but maybe not as insightful as I'd have liked.

I also read recently by this author: Survival Instincts

Damaged

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This author is a foster mother in England, and she has apparently written several of these books about different kids she has cared for, changing the names I assume.

This was a fascinating story about a little girl so difficult to deal with that she had been in six different homes over two months before coming to Cathy's. It reminded me of the books I've read and enjoyed by Torey Hayden.  (see Somebody Else's Kids)  I will look for more by this author.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

 Fiction by Robert Dugoni

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is the story of a boy born with ocular albinism, a condition that makes his eyes appear red. It should be just a minor thing, but Sam is growing up in the fifties/sixties in a Catholic school, prompting other kids to call him "Devil Boy" or "Sam Hell."

I enjoyed this book a lot; it was about a character overcoming obstacles and finding his purpose in life.

Listen to Me

 Fiction by Hannah Pittard

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I thought this was going to be a thriller; the synopsis had a lot of dark portent.

"A page-turning modern gothic about a marriage and road trip gone hauntingly awry..."

It turned out that it was pretty much just a husband and wife who didn't get along that well taking a road trip with their dog in bad weather, and they were both unhappy. Not a thriller at all. Just a depressing and slightly boring story.

The Secret Mother

 Fiction by Shalini Boland

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

One Sunday Tessa Markham comes home from her weekly trip to the cemetery and finds a five-year-old boy in her kitchen. "Are you my mummy?" he says.

This is a great beginning! The rest of the book is good too, although I did feel like the final explanation was a bit of a stretch.

Survival Instincts

 Fiction by Jen Waite

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Anne and her mother and her twelve-year-old daughter go for a weekend getaway in a mountain cabin. Little do they know there is also someone else heading there: a man who's just been released from prison and does NOT have good intentions.

Who is this man? Is he after them specifically, or just anyone? And any of this related to Anne's past?

It was an exciting thriller, although not without plot holes....