Big Library Read - A Very Typical Family

 

Before I tell you anything about the book, let me just say that I love the idea of the Big Library Read. Libraries all over the country, all over the world, make the same book available to any library card holders (although from the website, it looks like you might not even need a library card to borrow). There are no waitlists. There are all sorts of discussions online. There are resources for in-person book club discussions. I love anything that makes books accessible to more people. This summer's Big Library Read was A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey.

This is a story about second chances within your family. Fifteen years earlier, Natalie called the police after her sister knocked her head while falling down the stairs. Natalie had arrived home to her sister, brother, and their friend stoned out of their minds. Natalie got into an argument with her sister that lead to the fall. (The comment I'd like to insert here would be a spoiler so I'll keep it to myself.) The brother and sister end up in prison and Natalie leaves home and never looks back. She has no contact with her sister or brother and minimal contact with her mother. Even that contact dries up after awhile. 

Natalie, in a job she doesn't really like, with a boyfriend she doesn't really love, gets a letter from a lawyer in California that her mother has died. Her mother owned a large Victorian house that she's leaving to her three kids but the only way they can inherit the house is if they are all at the house together. Considering the fact that they don't speak, at all, that might be difficult.

Natalie drives across the country from Boston to Santa Cruz, California with her cat and some insect or other creature that she keeps in a jar and feeds crickets. Shortly after she arrives, her sister, Lynn, and Lynn's son, Kit, arrive at the house. Somehow they manage to stay there together. Natalie then starts the search for their brother, Jake. He's some respected orthinotologist at some big institute in Santa Cruz. Only he's been missing for weeks and no one knows where he is. Will they be able to find Jake so they can inherit the house?

The book was pleasant enough to read. Something nagged at me the entire time (same spoiler I referred to earlier) but otherwise, I looked forward to seeing how the author would resolve things.

I loved the relationship that Natalie develops with her newly discovered nephew, Kit. I loved how Natalie realized the importance of her female friendships. And I loved the sense of place that Sierra Godfrey creates. (Santa Cruz is her hometown and you can tell.) Now I'd love to visit Santa Cruz! But yes, there was that one little issue that bugged me. And from some of the online discussions that I read, it bothered other readers as well.

The Book That Matters Most

I really expected to love Ann Hood's The Book That Matters Most. I simply liked it. It's the story of Ava. Her husband has left her, her kids have flown the coop, so she joins her best friend librarian at the library book club. Ava used to love to read and she needs the companionship so figures a book club will be perfect for her. I love reading. I love the companionship of a book club. That wasn't enough.

The book club picks a theme for each year. The year that Ava joins, the theme is "the book that matters most." Each member picks a book that matters most to them. Ava picks an obscure book, one from her childhood. One she considered her salvation after the death of her sister.

This novel was too neat and tidy for me. Too many connections that didn't really make sense. I also felt the character development was weaker than it should have been for a storyline such as this. Yes, we did see Ava grow a little bit, but I wanted more to the story of why she changed. I also had a difficult time with the story of Ava's daughter, Maggie. Her storyline was also wrapped up too neat and tidy.

The Book That Matters Most was a pleasant enough read, but not one that I'd  recommend.

 

I'm Glad My Mom Died

I am not sure how I'm Glad My Mom Died ended up my "to be read" list or why I thought I might enjoy it. I had no idea who Jennette McCurdy is or why I'd want to read her memoir. But seeing the great reviews and all the recommendations on Renee's Reading Club, I requested the audiobook from the library and waited. At this point, I have a true preference for memoirs on audio read by the author.

I was quickly able to realize that Jennette McCurdy was a child star on Nickelodeon probably at a time when my kids might have just stopped watching Nickelodeon, but I had definitely heard of  iCarly, even if I'd never watched it.

Jennette McCurdy's mother wanted to be an actress but her parents forbade it. Instead, when Jennette is 6-years old, the mother puts literally all her energy into getting Jennette into acting. If she can't be a star, she wants her daughter to be a star. Talk about a stage mom!

And that's what this memoir is about. Jennette's difficult relationship with her mother. You know things are bad when at the very start of the memoir, the mother is on her deathbed and Jennette thinks she'll be able to spark some reaction from her mom when she tells her that she's at her mom's goal weight for her, 89 pounds. As an adult. Yikes!

I don't know that I would have had the patience to read this memoir, but it was captivating to listen to the author tell her story. The love she had for her mother is obvious, but the abuse piled upon her by this same mother is quite evident. Readers get it immediately. It took McCurdy a little bit longer to come to the realization herself.

I'd recommend this one conditionally. I would suggest, though, that if you're going to read it, listen to it instead.

 

Pineapple Street

The last several books I've read have been either so heavy or so dark, Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson was such a nice change of pace. Don't be fooled into thinking this is some frivolous family drama, though. Jackson got the idea for her debut novel after reading about the problem of wealth inequity. The stars of the novel are a family of one-percenters. Yes, the children independently, through inheritance, are each multimillionaires.

The genesis of the story was, in part, an article in The New York Times, “The Rich Kids Who Want to Tear Down Capitalism”, “about socially minded millennial heirs who feel like their inheritance is at odds with their morality”. This is the story of two generations of the Stockton family. The parents seem very comfortable with their wealth, with both what they've inherited and what they've earned by working. Their three adult children (and the siblings of the two older ones) are still trying to figure out how to reconcile that kind of wealth with the kinds of lives they want to live and the types of people they want to be.

I guess this story struck a chord with me because inherited wealth and wealth inequality is something that I talked about with my adult kids (close in age to the Stockton kids) all the time during our daily COVID Facetime calls. Does any person need to have billions? What about millions? What about inherited wealth? Shouldn't we find something to replace capitalism? If my kids were into reading this type of novel, it's one that I would suggest for them.

I also loved the novel because it was set in Brooklyn Heights (NYC). The author really evokes Brooklyn Heights. While I haven't been there in years, I could picture some of the streets that were described. And I could imagine the young people now living on the "fruit streets" of Brooklyn Heights.

I've heard lots of people applaud this book because it's light and funny. It was an easy read. I enjoyed Jackson's craft and character development. But was it light? Or funny? Not if you really stop to think about wha you are reading.

I highly recommend.

The Family Across the Street

 

The Family Across the Street by Nicole Trope is a psychological thriller that is quite the page turner. This is the story about Katherine and John West and their their nearly 6-year old twins on Hogarth Street. Hogarth Street is usually a quiet street. The neighbors keep mostly to themselves. All except for Gladys who is the older, busybody neighbor who keeps her eye on everyone's comings and goings.

Told from four different points-of-view, most told in third person, the novel starts with the neighbors hearing a gun being shot inside the West house. Then it looks back to how that day has unfolded from the four different points-of-view. The book starts with longer chapters and then transitions to very short chapters, making it impossible to put down. The reader just wants to figure everything out. What exactly going on? And why?

The characters were all very authentic and their stories were absorbing. This is not my usual genre but it was an easy book to read and a nice change of pace for me. I'm pretty sure the book discussion about this book will be about whether we suspected how the story would end. (I had a strong feeling about two thirds of the way into the book but my prediction was not exactly how the story worked out.)

The Dutch House

Ann Patchett's The Dutch House had been on my "to be read" list for I don't know how long. Then a woman from my community book club suggested it. And a few weeks later, one of my college roommates recommended the audio book narrated by Tom Hanks. I was in need of an audio book, it was available, and that was that!

Tom Hanks is a wonderful narrator. The story of the Dutch House, an estate in a suburb of Philadelphia, is told by Danny. We follow Danny after his mother leaves home for India - because she hates the Dutch House. We go along with Danny and his father as they make their Saturday rounds to collect rent and make routine repairs in buildings that Danny's father owns. We're appalled but not surprised when Danny and his sister, Maeve, are exiled from the house. Dealing with the life choices that result from this banishment and the bitter feelings that ensue is the biggest part of what this story is about.

The novel is called The Dutch House and while the estate is highly important in the development of the story, I didn't feel as though it was a character in the book. But it was really important.

The book was engaging from start to finish, and I give Tom Hanks some of the credit for that. Now I need to find something else where he's the reader!
 

The Good Sister

Sally Hepworth's novel, The Good Sister, is billed as a psychological thriller. I don't know that I'd necessarily agree. There was plenty of psychological fodder, but to me thriller makes me feel like I'm going to sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for something terrible to happen. I just didn't feel that way reading The Good Sister.

I did, however, enjoy The Good Sister from the first page to the last. It was an easy to read novel. And while I thought it was somewhat predictable, I was really curious to see how Hepworth was taking the story from point A to point B. And I was also really curious about how it might conclude.

Rose and Fern are twin sisters in their early 30s. Their mother had "an accident" when the girls were teens and it doesn't seem as though their childhood was particularly good. Now, Rose is married and desperate to have a baby. Fern has sensory issues, is single, lives a very regimented life. But she gets the idea that perhaps she can have a baby and give it to Rose. Fern knows she'd never be capable of raising a child on her own. Only problem is, Fern doesn't date.

Rose is some sort of interior designer and Fern works in a library. Her life is very structured. She eats dinner with Rose three nights a week, does yoga every morning, visits their mother once a week. Until... homeless Wally walks into Fern's library. There's just something about Wally.

At the start, the reader is left to wonder who is the good sister and who is the evil sister. As I said, I figured that out pretty early on and my interest that kept me turning the page was trying to understand why she was the bad sister and how the story was going to move forward.

My book club selected this novel and I'm looking forward to discussing.

What's kind of funny is that I'd recently read The Reading List, a story that takes place in a library. And lots of this story takes place in the library where Fern works. I love a good library story!

The Family Upstairs

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell is the thriller novel that my old New Jersey book club is discussing in May. They're taking things day by day and won't decide until a few days before their 20th of May meeting if they are going to meet in person for the first time in over a year or if they're going to have one more zoom meeting. On the off chance they  have a zoom meeting, I read the book. It's not a genre that I normally read, so even if I can't participate in the meeting, I'm glad I was pushed to read something out of my norm.

The novel starts with Libby learning that she's inherited a house in a posh neighborhood of London from her birth parents. We quickly learn that Libby was found in the house at the same time that 3 adults were found dead in the kitchen. What does this all mean?

The story is told from three perspectives: Libby's in the present, trying to learn what happened in the house; Henry, the son of the family in the house, telling the story from the past; and finally, Lucy tells her own story which at first seems totally unconnected to the other two. Because of the way it was laid out, it took me several chapters to really get into the groove of what was going on and who was who.

Once I did, though, I really enjoyed this book and read thru it rather quickly. It's the type of book where you keep making and revising predictions and assumptions.

Some of the characters I really liked. Others were just plain creepy. I don't want to share what book I made connections with while I was reading as that might give away some of this story. In fact, I'm not even going to label this post the way I might otherwise label it.

I'd recommend this one.

Too Much and Never Enough

By the time I read Mary L. Trump's portrait of her uncle, Donald, Too Much and Never Enough, two days after it's publication date, most of the really juicy parts had been released through the media. I was still anxious to read this book, but for much more personal reasons than for the more seemingly popular reasons.

Donald Trump reminds me a of a person in my life and I guess I was really curious to see how much of his story would be relatable to the history of the person he reminds me of. Thankfully, there were a lot of parts that made me nod my head, but that was about it. I do wonder if I found this book more believable than the average reader, simply because I do have this experience.

It was interesting to read how the members of the Trump family fell into the roles they held from an early age until now. The book makes me curious about many of the members of the family.

I grew up in Brooklyn so was familiar with the Trump family early on. This gave me a little bit more history than I previously had. I was also interested to learn that Fred Trump grew up in Woodhaven, Queens as I had a great aunt, married to a German Jew, living in Woodhaven, Queens. Was it a German neighborhood?

The question that remains is why she really felt it was necessary to come out with this book at this particular moment in time and why she never spoke out about her worries about his presidency until now. She tries to address that, but if there was anything missing in the book, that's what it is.

This was a quick, easy read. Nothing earth shattering but interesting nonetheless.

I reread a book for the third time last month

Mark Haddon's the curious incident of the dog in the night-time was one of the first novels I read after finishing my graduate degree in 2003. It's written from the perspective of one we assume to be on the autism spectrum (which may or may not be the case) and was fascinating to me as a newly minted highly qualified teacher.

Shortly after graduation, I joined my first book club. The club was  sponsored by our local educational foundation and was open to anyone employed in our school district. It took them a year or so to select the curious incident... for the book club to read and discuss. It was a perfect fit for the group. I wanted to get the most out of the discussion so I reread the book.

September is "Banned Books Month." Every year, Books and Beer Club selects a banned book to read in September. We came up with a long list of titles this year, but this was the one selected. You might be wondering why it was banned. I know that I was. It was banned for language, which I didn't notice so it couldn't have been terrible. But it was also banned because the main character, Christopher, is an atheist. None of the members of my book club where the least offended by this.

Third time around, the book felt too short. Maybe because I knew what was coming. I wanted to dig deeper into the characters of Christopher and his parents. That made it a quick read, though, so I was easily able to finish this book with lots going on in my life.

One of the book club members invited the woman who started and runs our local autism support group. What a resource that must be for parents and caregivers. She even brought along her son who is on the spectrum. He spoke to us first, then she spoke to us. We talked about what might or might not have been inaccuracies in the book and what totally rang true. Afterwards we had our usual interesting discussion. Most of us gave the book a thumbs up.

We talked about going to see the traveling production of the play which was an adaptation of the book, but the only date that many us were free was the weekend we were waiting to see if Hurricane Dorian was coming to town. I think others did eventually see the play, but I did not.

I definitely recommend this book if you haven't already read it.

Tell Me How This Ends Well

The Jewish book club I'm trying to get rolling remains really small. At last month's meeting, there were only 3 of us - and a guest. (Thanks, Martha!) When it came time to pick a book for our next meeting in July, I was told by the other two members, who had already read David Samuel Levinson's Tell Me How This Ends Well, that we didn't have to read this book but that it had a really crazy ending. "Let's find another book to read." I hadn't read it yet.

An important premise of the novel is that Israel has been annihilated by three Arab neighbors and there is an influx of Israeli refugees living in the United States and in Europe. Antisemitism was on the rise. That's important, but that's not what the story was about.

The story revolves around the Jacobson family. The Jacobson mom has been given a poor health diagnosis. The three adult children decide that they should spend their mom's final Passover together at the home of the older brother in California. Jacob travels from German, Edith travels from Atlanta, and the parents travel from Texas. They kids plan to celebrate Passover with a family seder - which is part of a reality TV show - and then kill their abusive dad. Yes, you read that right! Kill their abusive dad.

(As an aside, the seder was on a Saturday night, the Saturday after Good Friday. I wonder why the author chose to have what seemed to be the first seder on a Saturday night. The way the Jewish calendar works, first seders never fall on Saturday nights.)

This book, in parts, is comical. The story is told from the perspective of all the children and then from the mom's perspective. In some parts it's dark humor. In other parts, it's laugh out loud funny.  It also gives us a dark vision of what might be in the future of American Jews. That part is frightening. It's hard to really categorize this novel - religious commentary, dysfunctional family, crime drama, and I wonder if that was the author's intention.

While the religious commentary was downright scary and the crime drama was where a good part of the humor came into play, what intrigued me was why the mom, Roz, stayed with the dad, Julian, for all those years if he was so abusive. First thought was that perhaps "in those days" it was difficult for a woman to consider getting a divorce. Then I realized that Roz was only 8 years older than I was, that she contemplated getting a divorced in 1996 - which is exactly when I was in the middle of getting a divorce! Would my family life have fallen apart the way the Jacobsons did had I stayed married? That gave me a lot to think about!

I read this novel while I was on vacation. I guess because it was lighter than what I normally read it might be considered a beach read! I decided that this book is chockablock full of things to discuss. I think it will make the perfect book for a Jewish book club, even though I don't think you have to be Jewish to enjoy it. Now to convince enough other people that this is a worthwhile read so that we can have a larger attendance at our next book club meeting.