Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023--San Antonio

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is a slow-reveal novel.  A woman in her late 50s finally tells her 3 adult daughters the story of her younger years when she was an actress, had a 3-month affair with an actor who became famous, how she met her husband (their father), and how the actor and his brother remained occasionally intertwined with her life.  It has been a very popular novel since it was released last month.  I had to wait about 8 weeks to get it from the library using Libby for my Kindle.  It's a fascinating story with the two main characters (the mother and the actor) going their separate ways and what it means in terms of their happiness.  Plus, the slow-reveal aspect means that new twists occur every few pages.   I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023--San Antonio

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng is historical fiction that takes place on Penang Island (which I have visited twice) during the period beginning slightly before and through WWII.  Although fiction, the story blends with the known details of what the war was like in this part of the world--the fierce terrorist acts by the Japanese occupiers in China and the other Asian countries (including a complete failure to follow generally accepted rules of warfare), the harsh treatment of and conditions for prisoners, etc.  The story centers around the mixed race (half Chinese/half English) son of one of the wealthy British families that had been operating a trading house (supplying rubber, tin, spices, etc., to Britain and bringing in exchange needed items to the market in Malaya) for centuries.  As a half-cast, the boy has never felt as if he fit anywhere.  He has no close friends.  He spends much of his time alone on an uninhabited island the family owns that he can reach by rowing a small boat from the family estate.  When a Japanese man arrives and rents the island from his father, the son feels betrayed.  But the man has been raised by monks and trained in the practice of Aikido, a centuries-old martial art.  Seeing both the loneliness of the boy's life and realizing how befriending him could be of benefit in accomplishing goals he has been assigned that are the reason he is in Malaya, the man offers to become the boy's teacher.  The story describes the rituals of the martial arts training, the development of the friendship, the eventual use of the boy to gain critical information, the tension as the Japanese military invades the island, the decision the boy has to make to protect his family in a way that he is uniquely qualified to do so during the occupation, the horrors that take place during the occupation, and the constant strain between the boy and his teacher/friend during the occupation.  It's a good book that vividly describes almost all aspects of the story. It's easy, as the reader to become emotionally involved.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023--San Antonio 

Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black is an emotionally moving story about a Black man raised in rural Arkansas by his strict grandfather and loving grandmother.  I could identify with so many things written in it--even simple things like aluminum markers on graves because people were too poor to buy tombstones, girls who got pregnant in the 50s being shunned by the community, families keeping secrets from the past, men not being able to show or verbally express their emotions, believing and behaving the way one does because that was how you were taught to believe and behave, not even thinking of questioning things, etc.  The book consists of a series of writings during the last days of life for the man to his estranged son.  He tells his family history, his personal story, his regrets, his growth in understanding and accepting over time, etc.  The reviews make a big deal over the fact that he is writing to his GAY son, but the same story could have been about him writing to a shunned daughter who got pregnant outside of marriage or to someone after some other reason that estrangement has occurred; the author just decided to make the estrangement be over the son being gay.   It's a great book because of what it is telling about the father's life--what it was like for him as a child, how he met his eventual wife, how his beliefs and how he was raised caused problems in his relationships with both his wife and son, how he eventually began to change as a person, and his suffering and his regrets as he did change and looked back at his life during the final days of it.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.  

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023--San Antonio

I started reading Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Larua Warrell three weeks ago.  It has great reviews from others, but I kept putting it down without motivation to pick it back up.  Finally, after reading 5% of it, I decided to start another book.  At the end of reading that book, I really wasn't motivated to pick this one back up yet.  So I started reading another book; it, too was rather boring although I finished it hoping all along that it would get better because BBC had listed it as a top book of 2023.  I have now started a third book because of a lack of motivation to pick this book back up, especially after the last book was also boring to me.  I can't even remember what happened in the part I read of this book.   So, I am quitting this book at 5% with no rating.

The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

 Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023--San Antonio

The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley has been on lists of books to read this year, but I found it to be BORING!!  Most of it is detailed descriptions of the day-to-day thoughts and events in the life of a female lawyer who has moved from the Midwest to New York City and worked her way up to the point where she seems to be the top mid-level one on the office team with hopes of being named a partner only to find that a new face has shown up at that level and has become the preferred person to the point that she is even given the court case that the protagonist has spent weeks preparing.  In the meantime, her boring private life is also described in detail.  I believe I could write a synopsis of this whole book in 10 sentences or less and that a reader who had read it would find no unexpected surprises when reading the whole book!  I do not recommend it to anyone except maybe someone who needs a book to read and has already read everything else available.  I gave the book 2 1/2 stars out of 5.

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023--San Antonio

In Memoriam by Alice Winn is an excellent book.  It grabbed my attention from the beginning.  And even though much of it is set during WWI with all the gruesome details of the horrors of that war, I never wanted to put it down.  Most of the characters are young male upper-class students who have attended a British public school.  The two main characters are two boys/young men who have been best friends for years and who have secretly loved each other but never confessed that fact to each other out of fear that their love would be rejected and their friendship affected negatively.  Not until they have each volunteered for the war and ended up as officers in the same regiment (with one having been there for 6 months before the other arrives) is there ever any affection expressed between them, and it comes then due to the horrors of the war making them realize that they may never have a future beyond the war and must make do with what little time they have during the war until they die.  But tragedies soon begin to occur that keep pushing them apart and affecting the health of each (physical for one and both physical and mental for the other) as the war continues.  What makes reading the story so difficult is that their lives become so difficult when the reader knows the war is only about half over.  Will they ever be able to be together again? If so, how can they live their lives the way the prefer given the draconian laws in England against homosexuality?  And if they can be together again, will each still be able to love the other considering the traumas from the war that have affected them?  I highly recommend the book and gave it a rating of 5 stars out of 5.