A Little Life

 Fiction by Hanya Yangihara

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I have heard a lot of opinions about this book; either people love it or hate it. It's award winning, and definitely an Intellectual Smart People Book, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel. Having read it, I say that I'm squarely on the love-it side; I think this story is a real masterpiece. Really, it's amazing! It's very sad, but that is only because the characters are so real.

This story follows a foursome of men who were college roommates (I think at MIT, but this was unclear) and are now in New York City navigating early adulthood; it goes on into their later lives. Interestingly, it is not set in any particular time, which I read is called "the eternal present-day setting." (See how I learn intellectual terms? I am pretending to be a Smart Person.) The narrative begins by telling you about each man (Willem, JB, Malcom, and Jude), and then it shifts to sharply focus on Jude alone. Jude's is the eponymous "Little Life" that the story is really about.

This is an odd thing to say about an 800-plus page book, but in some ways I wish it were longer. After the initial part, we never get any more of JB or Malcom's perspective, and I'd like to have had that. But that's a minor criticism. All in all this is a wonderful book, beautifully written and incredibly moving.

I was very surprised to learn that the author is a woman. I could not tell from the name, and based on the way it sounded, I just assumed it was written by a gay man. There are almost no female characters in the story, and the ones that appear are extremely peripheral, like someone's mom who shows up with a sandwich once and then disappears. But the male characters feel very real and extremely deep. 

As an aside, I don't care for the cover, but I understand the artistic choice behind it. It fits the story. I just dislike things that aren't pretty, because I'm shallow...

The Modigliani Scandal

 Fiction by Ken Follett

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story takes place in the London art scene in the 1970's, and is what I'd call a slow-building heist story. There is theft and forgery, and you think you know who is being ripped off and who will triumph, but the final ending was a surprise.

It's a good book!

I also read recently by this author: The Evening and the Morning

A Life Lost

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, ten-year-old Jackson is struggling after the death of his father to cancer and his older brother to suicide. With these two losses in less than three years and two other young children. Jackson's mother simply can't cope with him and gives him up to the foster system temporarily. 

Cathy Glass steps in with compassionate help for both Jackson and his mom, but she doesn't know the surprises in store for her when she finds out the rest of the story!

I also read recently buy this author: Will You Love Me?

The Push

 Fiction by Asheley Audrain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Blythe Connor beings the narration of this story, talking about a family she is watching through their window: two parents, a teenage girl and a young boy. Then we discover it's her ex-husband's new family, and the teenage girl is her own daughter. The narrative then goes back in time to Blythe's side of the story, speaking in the second person as if she's explaining herself to her ex-husband. Interspersed with this are glimpses of Blythe's history through the points of view of her mother and grandmother.

I almost quit reading this book in the middle when something so awful I couldn't bear it happened. After having begun with the idea that Blythe was just having trouble bonding with her daughter after birth because of some postpartum depression, lack of strong maternal history, and an unsupportive husband... it got so much worse. I'm glad I kept reading; however, the end left me with some questions.

I'd say it was a good story and a surprising one; however, it's not as fabulous as the reviews had led me to believe.

Will You Love Me?

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

 

This is a lovely true story about foster carer Cathy Glass and her adopted daughter, who came to her at age eleven. Cathy says at the beginning that she believes she was meant to be Lucy's mother, and the narrative really does make it seem like everything that happens is just to bring Lucy into Cathy's home. Still, in this book she does not shy away from telling the terrible things in Lucy's early life that cause the child to be forced into foster care.

I loved this story!

I also read recently by this author: Please Don't Take My Baby

Happy All the Time

 Fiction by Laurie Colvin

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a fun little character story about a pair of cousins in 1970's New York City who are looking for wives. Both of them find one, of course, but it's the quirky nature of their courtships that capture the reader's attention.

This author only wrote a few short books and died unexpectedly in the early nineties; I recently heard about her. I enjoyed her style!

Finding Stevie

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Stevie is fourteen years old and considers himself gender-fluid, a term that foster carer Cathy Glass has never heard. She has to learn quickly what it means in order to help Stevie, who is having trouble in school and rebelling against his grandparents, who can't seem to understand his gender confusion.

I liked this story just a little less that some of the others. Sometimes Cathy came across to me as a little sanctimonious in this book; usually she is very caring and accepting of both the child and his or her family, but in this case she seemed awfully judgey of Stevie's grandparents. Still, it's good to know Cathy isn't perfect.

I also read recently by this author: Please Don't Take My Baby

Somebody's Someone

 Nonfiction by Regina Louise

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a memoir of a girl who grew up sort-of on the outskirts of the American foster-care system. Regina pretty much never lived with her actual parents, but got dumped on various relatives or friends at different times, and finally became a ward of the state as a teen.

The story was very interesting, but ended abruptly and before she grew up. I think maybe a sequel was planned, but they should have indicated that at the end somehow.  I've looked around and there is another book, which I've ordered. We will see if it's a sequel or a reworking of this book.

Please Don't Take My Baby

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book was similar in idea to Can I Let You Go? by the same author, in that it was about a pregnant girl who wants to keep her baby and asks Cathy to help.

Unlike the mentally challenged Faye in the other book, in this story Jade is a slightly selfish seventeen-year-old who seems to think having a baby is like playing dolls. Cathy has to teach her how to take motherhood seriously before the state takes her baby by force.

The Starter Wife

 Fiction by Nina Laurin

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Claire is a young woman who feels she can't escape the shadow of her husband Byron's first wife Colleen, who disappeared mysteriously several years ago. Colleen is presumed dead, but her body was never found. For Claire, reminders of her predecessor are everywhere; Byron keeps Colleen's paintings up all over the house. Now someone is emailing Claire and using Colleen's name. Is Colleen still alive?

This was a great set-up but I couldn't get very interested in this story. Claire was whiny and unpleasant, and turned out to be an unreliable narrator. Things got confusing and the story dragged. I didn't really like this book.

This is the second novel I've read by this author, but I think I'm going to give the rest of her books a miss.

I also read by this author: Girl Last Seen

Win

 Fiction by Harlan Coben

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This thriller is from the perspective of the character Win Lockwood, who has been a supporting character in most of the the Myron Bolitar novels, of which Home was number eleven. It was very interesting to see things Win's way.

This was a really good story with several twists that I definitely didn't see coming.

I also read recently by this author: Don't Let Go

Can I Let You Go?

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, foster carer Cathy Glass takes in Faye, a mentally challenged young adult who has been in the care of her grandparents all her life. The problem with Faye is that she's pregnant, and no one can figure out how she managed that in her sheltered existence. She's supposed to stay with Cathy until the baby comes, and then give it up for adoption and go back to Gran and Gramps. But what happens if Faye wants to keep her baby?

I really liked this book; it gave the reader a lot to think about. What is the best outcome for Faye and the baby? What about her grandparents? And the couple who desperately want to adopt? Is there a solution that everyone will be satisfied with? There are no easy answers in the real world.

I also read recently by this author: The Silent Cry

Big Lies in a Small Town

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jesse Williams, a successful modern painter with a passion for helping the young struggling artist, has recently died. In his will, he sets instructions for the restoration of a late-1930's WPA mural that he wishes to be installed for the opening of  his new museum. But he has very specific instructions about the mural that he wants his daughter to carry out, one of which involves getting a young woman released from jail to do the work.

The story goes back and forth between 1939, when the mural is first being painted, and the restoration of the mural in 2018. It's a good book with some surprises in store! 

I also read recently by this author: Necessary Lies

The Silent Cry

 Nonfiction by Cathy Glass

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Here foster carer Cathy Glass tells the story of a child she did not foster, which made for an interesting change from her other books, of which I'm currently trying to read every one. 

Kim is a little girl in Cathy's neighborhood whose mother seems to be struggling, and Cathy is trying to help without interfering too much. Also included in the story are a few short-term foster placements that help the reader see what fostering is really like.

I also read recently by this author: Cut

All is not Forgotten

 Fiction by Wendy Walker

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story begins with a teenage girl who is raped in the woods outside a high school party. Afterwards, she is given an experimental drug that is supposed to wipe her memory of the incident, a treatment her parents readily approve in the hopes that she can put the whole thing behind her. They eventually find out that it’s not that easy. The story goes back and first between the points of view of the girl, her mother, and the psychiatrist who is trying to help her. 

This is a really good thriller with quite a twist at the end!

Chasing Windmills

 Fiction by Catherine Ryan Hyde

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was an interesting story about Sebastian, a homeschooled teenage boy in New York City whose father keeps him under such tight control that he can only leave the house to exercise for an hour or so a day, unless he sneaks out in the middle of the night. He has no friends except for an elderly lady he sees when he goes out for his run, and he keeps that relationship secret from his father. 

Once Sebastian meets Maria while escaping the house after midnight, you can guess he’s ready to break out of his dad’s control. But Maria has troubles of her own....

This was a really good character story. I really liked how the author avoids going for a pat and tidy but unrealistic ending; instead, she really gets you to think about these characters and what might happen in the future.

I also read recently by this author: Love in the Present Tense