The Berlin Girl by Mandy Robotham

Tuesday, Apr. 12, 2022--San Antonio

The Berlin Girl by Mandy Robotham is a novel about news reporting from Berlin during the lead-up to WWII.  It's a gripping tale with suspense as well as a love story from various angles--love for friends, love for colleagues, and romantic love.  It's not the type of novel that I would normally read--more of a mass entertainment novel (as indicated by its glossy cover) than one of higher quality and expected to win awards.  However, it's an easy book to read and is completely entertaining.   I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Crosby

Friday, Apr. 8, 2022--San Antonio

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Crosby is a murder mystery/thriller novel--not the kind of book that I normally read.  But it was one of the top 100 books of 2021 according to both TIME and NPR.  And it was available from the library for my Kindle.  It's the story of two ex-cons who have not met but whose gay sons (married to each other and who had been rejected by both fathers) have been murdered.  The cops either have little interest in solving the crime or have been encouraged to drop trying to solve it.  So the two men, both southerners, one white and the other Black with little tolerance for each other's prejudices, decide to take matters into their own hands so that the killers will be held accountable.  But there are "layers" of people who are responsible--the ones who actually performed the act and those above them who pass as genteel members of society.  It's a complex story with lots of humor, lots of violence, and many tense moments as these men face almost impossible odds.  I found myself reading more and more pages as each day passed.  I could see the movie becoming a series on Netflix or a feature film.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Sunday, April 3, 2022--San Antonio

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr provides a reading experience that is like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.  The further the reader gets into the book, the clearer it becomes that there are multiple stories that are all tied together.  So the reader should not give up if confused at first.  By a quarter of the way, the construction format becomes clear and the different characters obvious.  By half way through, the genius in the connections between the stories becomes exciting and it is difficult to put the book down.  By 3/4 of the way through, it is obviously such a good read that there is no desire for it to ever end.  And by 90% of the way through, there is sadness that it was all going to end soon.  The reader should take notes about the characters and their time periods as they are introduced in the beginning, since it takes time to really get them all separated and straight in one's mind.  The book really soars once it is clear what is happening.  And discovering and seeing the connections between the stories developing is a joy. It's one of the most complex novels I have read and one of the best.  I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen

Wednesday, Mar. 23, 2022--San Antonio

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen is a compiled suite released last year of three memoirs written and published separately in the late 60s and early 70s.  She was a woman who grew up in a lower class section of Copenhagen and never quite fit in under any circumstances--as a member of her family, as a student in school, as a friend with others her age, as a sexual partner with the men in her life, or as a mother.  She often settled for less in life than most would, and she eventually dealt with severe drug addiction.  But she was a successful author when her life did not interfere with her writing.  And the writing is so simple and clear and honest in expressing the various situations within periods of her life.  I found myself fascinated while being disappointed due to so many poor decisions she kept making.  The fact that I know the neighborhoods where she lived, shopped, and partied made it more personal for me to read.  I did find one very bad mistake made by the translator.  Danes have a potato and grain vodka with flavorings (often caraway and other herbs) that is drunk as a part of dining and partying; it's actual name is aquavit, but its slang name is "snaps."  Unfortunately, the translator changed it schnapps, the word used in English for sweet alcoholic drinks which are popular.  However, Danish snaps is far from sweet and is very strong.  The book is very well written, and I gave it a rating of 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske

Monday, Feb. 28, 2022--San Antonio

A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske was listed as a best book for fall in EW reviews last year, so I put it on my list of books to consider reading.  When it showed up on Libby with a wait period of 10 weeks, I put a hold on it, and it only recently became available.  It is so different from most books I read.  It's a novel with the basis that members of some families have the inherited ability to create magic spells, and it has been kept entirely secret from society in general.  There is even a secret government agency that accepts any reports of possible use of magic and a secret archive of the names of everyone who has inherited this trait.  The story involves some mysterious reports of magic being reported to have been used in some attacks against others who possess the magic ability and the disappearance of some of them.  One of the two main characters is a man who gets posted to head the secret government records office who doesn't possess any magic abilities and doesn't even know that such people exist.  He is posted there by the Prime Minister who doesn't even know what this office does (due to not being magical himself) and just needs what he thinks sounds as a low-level position where he can help a young man who is a Lord but has not inherited a fortune due to his parents having given most of their money away to charities.  The other main character is the liaison officer who meets once a week to get the most important examples of reports of magic and reports them to an office higher up in government.  (Think of it like a story involving the man who is head of a government office to collect all reports of UFOs and the liaison officer who meets weekly to see if anything is worth reporting upward for further investigation.)  At first, I was surprised about premise of certain people being able to use magic and by the fact that I felt somewhat like I was reading a book written for adolescents.  But it turned out to be an adult novel that was interesting and thought-provoking.  It is the first novel in a set of two as the story continues.  Book II is entitled A Restless Truth (The Last Binding).  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

 Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022--San Antonio

Bewilderment by Richard Powers is a science fiction book that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.  It is the story of a father who is an astrobiologist professor and researcher and his son who struggles with handling daily social life.  A fellow researcher has developed a way to train the mind to "feel" emotions of others, and uses the son as a subject, since his deceased mother had been a subject at the beginning of the study to set up a recorded base of memories of specific emotions.  At the same time, the world is in trouble politically by lack of concern for the environment and people's affects on it.  The father's research involves searching for planets with the potential for intelligent life and creating credible possibilities of the form life on each planet might be.   The book alternates between chapters of what is happening in the life of the father and son and chapters of different planets with descriptions of what life might be like on them.  The story of the father and son and what is happening on earth is interesting.  I found the stories of life on the different planets to be less interesting, especially after reading a few of them.  I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022--San Antonio

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead is the third book I have read by this author.  It is a good book, but I would rank it 3rd in sequence in terms of reading pleasure with The Nickel Boys first and The Underground Railroad second.  "Shuffle" tells the story of a black man whose father was a criminal.  The son was determined to be respected and made his way through business college and had a successful career running a furniture store--at first, selling used furniture, then a mixture of new and used, and finally selling only the finest lines of new furniture.  He married a woman from a wealthy Harlem family to the disgruntlement of her father.  He also finds himself occasionally mixed up in criminal activities due to his cousin who is like a brother, since he lived with the cousin's family for a few years when his father went to jail for his criminal activities.  The story covers a period of time during sit-ins, race riots, etc.  Throughout it all, the main character keeps his head down and his eyes on a steady progression to a better life for him and his family.  I gave the book a rating of 4 stars out of 5.