Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!
Great reads for adults and children!
#EveryoneGetsaTurn #NetGalley
I love the delicate illustrations in this children’s title. They made me want to both look carefully and turn the pages. The story itself is very sweet and also funny.
What happens when friends find an egg? It will mean changes for both them and that egg. Read this with a child as you both wait to see what happens next. It is so cute!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 05 March 2024
I am very excited about Julia Alvarez’s forthcoming novel. It will be published on 02 April 2024 and looks like it will be a wonderful read.
Literary icon Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies, shares an inventive and emotional novel about storytelling and her homeland—the Dominican Republic—that Kirkus Reviews calls a “rich and moving saga” and Shelf Awareness calls “a lyrical thought-provoking meditation on truth, complicated family narratives, and the question of whose stories get told.”
Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn’t want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories—literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and revisions, and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her.
Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas, and the cemetery becomes a mysterious sanctuary for their true narratives. Filomena, a local woman hired as the groundskeeper, becomes a sympathetic listener as Alma’s characters unspool their secret tales. Among them: Bienvenida, the abandoned second wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo, consigned to oblivion by history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States.
The characters defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves. The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried? Finally, Alma finds the meaning she and her characters yearn for in the everlasting vitality of stories.
Alvarez’s extraordinary novel reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.
#TheCemeteryofUntoldStories #NetGalley
#JuliaAlvarez
#TheCemeteryofUntoldStories
Fives stars
This beautifully illustrated title will be enjoyed by those who are interested in the British Isles, history, archaeology and more. It is a beautifully photographed and wide-ranging tile.
The author begins with an introduction, a timeline and a map. She follows this with the many places where she is interested in “unearthing our mysterious past,” as the title of the book notes.
There are so many places included. To name some there are the Tomnaverie Recumbent Stone Circle, Seahenge, Must Farm, Snettisham Treasures, the Dagenham Idol and Stonehenge. The geography includes Kent, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Moray and many more locations. The first object featured is the Westray Wifey which is over 5,000 years old and was found on Orkney. There are so many more to follow.
This book can be dipped into or read in its entirety. I very much enjoyed the time that I spent with this fascinating title.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-galley. All opinions are my own.
#GreatMindsonSmallThings #NetGalley
I found this to be a rather idiosyncratic book but one that was quite interesting. It worked best for me when I dipped in for random small doses. Thisibook based on philosophy but delivered with the unique perspective of the author.
Organized by the alphabet, there are exactly what the title describes: Great Minds on Small Things. For example, with the letter B, the author thinks about de Beauvoir’s comment on her bath and takes off from there. Just a couple of other letters and topics to give the flavor would be L where there are entries on laziness and listening among others; for T there is Tea. So, if this sounds like your cuppa, give this one a look. For a bonus, there are illustrations.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Duckworth Books for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 05 October 2024
Four stars ****
Anyone who is a senior, or who knows a senior, may want to purchase this book. It is simple and straightforward. The exercises are described in an easily understandable way. The illustrations show exactly the positions that a person should take. All in all I think this book is a good resource.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Callisto Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.
#PrivateEquity #NetGalley
Before reading Carrie Sun’s insightful memoir, I knew nothing much about Private Equity other than that it made some people very wealthy. The world of this book is not my world but I felt its intensity almost painfully as I turned the pages.
This is a book about privilege (the ability to make a very good living, to work with smart people, etc.) but also about the toll that working in an environment that may not be a good fit ultimately takes on a person. The question then is whether someone can walk away from the benefits for the sake of another (perhaps even better) existence.
Carrie Sun is the child of immigrants. She was raised to work hard, very hard indeed and to be successful. As her memoir opens, she is in a relationship with a man named Josh who is, himself, very successful. However, just as can happen in work, some things that Josh wants from Carrie may take her too far away from her values.
Carrie decides to apply for a job with a billionaire after a position is floated by a headhunter. She undergoes, for this one job, more interviews than I have had in my whole career. Carrie gets the position and readers follow along to share her experiences and decisions.
This book, at times, read like a novel though there were also some technical aspects to it, as when Sun describes what PE is. In some ways it is a cautionary tale. It is also, importantly, a story of discovering one’s self. I recommend that it be read by a wide readership including those who are considering, or feel stuck, in their career choices.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 13 February 2024
#EssentialLifeSkillsforGirls #NetGalley
I highly recommend this title that teaches and empowers girls (though it could be useful to boys, adults…). It is nicely illustrated and packed with information.
This title is divided into sections on matters related to home, schoo,l and being out in the world. Just to give a flavor of the title with a subsection from each area…learn how to do laundry, to have difficult conversations with friends, to understand money matters.
This title would make a great gift and I think the recipient may refer to it often.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Zeitgeist for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 09 April 2024
Four stars ****
Deanna Raybourne has written two historical mystery series as well as some standalone novels. A Grave Robbery is the ninth in her series featuring Speedwell and Stoker.
Veronica Speedwell is a lepidopterist and a free spirited woman who is ahead of her time. Stoker has been an adventurer. Both now live and work on an eccentric’s estate.
The relationship between these two is what I most enjoy; they are clever, witty, and more than willing to challenge one another. That is just what happens here.
Stoker’s employer wants him to install a mechanism in a waxwork. The idea is to make it seem as if the waxwork is breathing. There is a bit of difficulty because…this is no waxwork but a corpse! And so, the adventure begins and the protagonists are on the case.
Those who already know the series will be eager to read this. New fans will enjoy this one as well. They may find that a trip to the backlist is in order for the full experience.
Recommended to fans of slightly quirky historical mysteries.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Four stars ****
Jennifer Ryan has become one of my favorite writers of historical fiction and here she has written another successful WWII set story. In The Underground Library, she follows three main and many auxiliary characters.
Juliet has gotten her dream job, even if it may only be because the men are away. She is now the Deputy Librarian of the Bethnal Green Library. (Look it up for some great photos). She hopes to liven up the rather staid premises with a book club, children’s story hour and more. What will she contribute to the project that is the title of this book?
Juliet lives with a landlady and it turns out that she knows the other boarder. Juliet used to have no respect for him. Will her feelings change?
Katie has been working in the library while waiting to attend university. She becomes a friend and colleague to Juliet. However, Katie faces a serious crisis. Will she be okay?
Sophie lived a nice upper middle class life in Germany before the war. She has become a Jewish refugee in London. Sophie works for an incredibly mean spirited man and some in London view her in a rather prejudiced manner. She finds solace in the library. Will Sophie get a chance at something better? Will she ever be reunited with her family?
Readers also get to know a number of the library’s patrons. These include two older sisters and the rather bold Marigold. All of them interact over the course of the story including, of course, the three main characters.
The author does a good job of depicting wartime London. The descriptions of bombing raids, Anderson shelters and running to the underground for safety are all well portrayed.
This is a novel that will be enjoyed by those who like books about books, women’s fiction and WWII set stories. The pages definitely turn.
Look for all of Jennifer Ryan’s novels starting with The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. They offer engaging reads.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
