Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!

The Seagull is a Vera Stanhope mystery, a novel in one of Ann Cleeves’ two series, both of which are excellent. (The other books are the Shetland novels.) Both are also TV dramas available in the U.S. and originally from Britain.
I especially enjoyed this book because of the back story. The reader learns more about Vera’s parents and her childhood. I also enjoyed spending time with favorite characters, including Holly and Joe.
This novel is about an historical crime with implications for the present. The story is well told and the pages kept turning. Highly recommended.

Praise for Almost Everything:

“Anne Lamott has a rare talent for making writing look easy… Given the warmth, liveliness and intimacy of her prose, time with one of her books can feel like a visit with a friend.” —Wall Street Journal

“Part memoir, part manual and part sermon from the church of Lamott, this satisfying escape points to notes of beauty in our uncertain world.” —People

“Like a feminist C.S. Lewis, [Lamott] talks about God, politics and other unmentionables, and gently exhorts her readers, as she does herself, to find joy in a bleak and chaotic world: a leftie guru of optimism.” —The New York Times 

“[Lamott] cheers us on with her blend of sobering truth and essential inspiration.”—Parade Magazine

“Many are deeply blessed by Ms. Lamott’s down-to-Earth spirituality, her cleverness, her ability to tell a story with a moral, or at least with a sensible point.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

And me…

I have been listening to Almost Everything as a recorded book and it has been a wonderful (full of wonder) experience.  Narrated by the author with her cadences and emphases, this has been a moving listen.  Ms. Lamott captures wonder and despair; anxiety and joy; reasons against hope and reason to hope. There is talk of death, addiction, the perils of advice giving and the beauties of life and connection.  There is much understanding along with good reason not to despair.  The author’s  humanity, warmth, sensitivity and humor are truly special.    I recommend Almost Everything most highly.   FIVE STARS!!!

The Endless Beach is one of three novels set on Mure, a fictional town in northern Scotland.  The first in the series was The Cafe by the Sea and the newest entry is Christmas on the Island.

Here are my earlier thoughts on The Cafe by the Sea:

Jenny Colgan is a talented writer of light, humorous women’s fiction. I find that her novels are good reads for when I want to escape. In this book, The Cafe by the Sea, the escape is to the fictional island of Mure in very northern Scotland. The scenery is beautiful, the family life complicated and the romance eventually works out as it tends to in this kind of fiction. Recommended for a relaxing, stressfree read.

My thoughts on The Endless Beach:

This novel picks up where the earlier one left off.  It can be read as a standalone or as part of the series.

In The Endless Beach, old characters are back and the town is as idyllic as ever, although the characters’ lives are not.  Story lines felt deeper and more complex than in some of the other books that I have read by this author.  The story of Saif was especially moving.  A refugee and physician, Saif’s wife and sons were left behind in Syria when he was given asylum in Scotland.  In this novel, his sons are located and the trauma that they experience is explored.  The reader watches as Saif tries to help the boys to adjust.  For a writer of light fiction, this is a story of some depth.

Then there are Fintan and Colton, two gay characters whose relationship forms a key part of the novel.  The author presents their deep love for one another while also making the reader well aware of a major obstacle that they face.  No spoiler so I will not say more.

Flora and Joel are also working on their relationship.  For reasons that the reader comes to understand more fully, commitment is frightening to Joel.  What will happen to them?  Will there be a good next step for them?

I found this to be the best book that i have read by this author.  I was sorry to leave Mure but glad to know that I still have one more book in the series to read. If you have read/plan to read these novels, let me know your thoughts.  Thanks.

 

This is a challenging search and find book for children. Each section starts with a sentence like “I lost my favorite truck-my fire truck. Where can it be hiding?” Then on the following page the child is told “Look at my red truck. Keep the picture in your head, turn the page, and if you see it, show me.” This is followed with illustrations of many similar vehicles. There is then another quote and illustration of the next vehicle to be found.

I think that children will need patience for this book. They will need to examine the differences among similar objects. They will feel quite rewarded if/when they make the match!

#WhereIsMyCar #NetGalley

 

 

This looks like a fun book for young children. Each two page spread features one color and one shape, along with pictures of small objects that are hidden in the mosaic-like illustration. I can happily imagine going through this book with a child; I am certain that we would both enjoy it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto!

#AnimosaicsCanYouFindIt #NetGalley

I have blogged on a number of books that can inspire children to reach for their dreams. What makes this one special is that each woman featured speaks directly to the reader in her own voice . The scope of the book is broad; for example there are entries by Hillary Clinton, Sheryl Sandberg, Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Serena Williams and Gabby Douglas. among others. As you can see the book features contemporary women in politics, business, government service, television and sport, along with other career choices. Each entry includes photos in addition to the text. The book also has a time line of women’s history beginning in 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed. This book deserves a spot in school libraries and on the shelves of girls who want to think about their possibilities in life and plan for their futures.

Salvador Dali is a painter whose name you probably know; it is also possible that you do not fully understand him or his work. If that is true for you, this book provides a welcome opportunity to spend time with Dali and his family and to better understand the artist in context. The reader learns about Dali’s parents’ lives before he was born and the death of their earlier son whom they also named Salvador. The author speculates that, in this, may lie some of Dali’s duality. Dali’s home village, the places he lived, the teachers and the schools that influenced him are all acknowledged. There are quotes from Dali’s own writings along with excellent painterly and photographic illustrations. If you would like to spend time with this enigmatic, surrealist, I encourage you to take a look at this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto for this excellent read.

 

This is a simple story of a goose who becomes separated from her flock. Fox does his very best to help her catch up and the two have some adventures along the way. Fox is then invited to stay with the flock so the two friends can delay their good-byes. This is a nice tale of how friends help one another and stick together and about how groups can include those who are not like them. This book is enhanced with discussion questions and activities at the end making it a nice read for a toddler story hour.

Thanks NetGalley and Quarto!

Stephanie Barron has written in several genres. She is the author of the Nantucket based, Merry Folger mysteries which I read and enjoyed. She also wrote the Jane Austen mystery series and novels with JFK and Virginia Woolf as characters. In this book, That Churchill Woman is Jennie Jerome Churchill, the mother most famously of Winston, the wife of Randall and a lover of Charles Kinsky.

The novel moves back and forth in time allowing the reader to understand Jennie’s upbringing in the Gilded Age and her father’s influence on her life. The reader also learns about the traumas of Jennie’s early life, including the profound loss she faced, her father’s affairs, her move to Europe, etc.

Jennie glitters in British society. There are numerous appearances in the book of Bertie, the Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Alix. Other American women who married into the British aristocracy are also characters in the novel.

The reader empathizes with Jennie, especially during a time when a young Winston is quite ill. Further, as Jennie learns the truth about her husband, (I don’t want to include spoilers), one truly feels for her.

I highly recommend this novel for those who like historical fiction, those who are Anglophiles and those interested in the family in which Winston grew up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this absorbing read.

#ThatChurchillWoman #NetGalley

I have truly loved the Inspector Banks series and have read all of the novels, except this one, the most recent.  I have been saving it, as I sometimes do when a book is by a favorite author.  I plan to read it soon.  In the meanwhile, you can add it to your TBR list as it is just $1.99 today.

These novels can be read out of order but, if you start at the beginning, you will see how the relationships between characters evolve.  Up to you.

Packed with twists and turns, heart and soul, this is another triumph from an author “at the top of his game” (LOUISE PENNY).

From Goodreads: