146. The Last Flight by Julie Clark

read on Audible
narrated by Kristine Hvam and Lauren Fortgang
Unabridged audio (9:23)
2020
302 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 12/4/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.13 - 33,696 ratings

My rating: 4
Setting: mostly Berkeley, CA, contemporary

First line/s:  "Terminal 4 swarms with people, the smell of wet wool and jet fuel thick around me.  I wait for her, just inside the sliding glass doors, the frigid winter wind slamming into me whenever they open, and instead force myself to visualize a balmy Puerto Rican breeze, laced with the scent of hibiscus and sea salt."

What I posted on Goodreads:  A story of two women switching places, one abused, one running for her life because of bad choices.  Certainly kept my interest!  Set mostly in Berkeley, California.  Great readers.

Goodreads synopsis:  Two women. Two Flights. One last chance to disappear.

          Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.
          A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets ― Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.
           The Last Flight is the story of two women―both alone, both scared―and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.

135. When She Was Good by Michael Robotham

#2 Cyrus Haven
borrowed from Library and listened on Libby
narrated by Joe Jameson
Unabridged audio (11:25)
2020
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 10/28/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.33 - 4181 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Nottingham/Manchester, England

First line/s: "Late spring.  Morning cold.  A small wooden boat emerges from the mist, sliding forward with each pull of the oars."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Part two in a 2-part mystery, finished quite satisfactorily.  Great narration, wonderful mystery.

My comments: Part two, finishing a story begun in a prior book (Good Girl, Bad Girl) quite satisfactorily.  I enjoyed the way it flip-flops between the two man characters, a forensic psychiatrist and an 18-year-old girl who has been abused and/or on the run for most of her remembered life.  The setting of Nottingham/Manchester, England and the perfectly accented and accentuated male reader enhanced my reading experience.  Plot, setting, characterization, and narration worked perfectly together in this excellent mystery.

Goodreads synopsis:  Criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in this new thriller from author Michael Robotham. Who is Evie, the girl with no past, running from? She was discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Her ability to tell when someone is lying helped Cyrus crack an impenetrable case in Good Girl, Bad Girl. Now, the closer Cyrus gets to uncovering answers about Evie’s dark history, the more he exposes Evie to danger, giving her no choice but to run. Ultimately, both will have to decide if some secrets are better left buried and some monsters should never be named...

60. The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

Listened to audio on Libby borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune
Unabridged audio (9:35)
2019 Quercus
400 pgs.
Adult RomCom
Finished April 7, 2020
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 66,701 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting:  Contemporary England, small city....

First line/s:  "You've got to say this for desperation: It makes you much more open-minded."

My comments: This has been on hold for many months with a long waiting list and I was greatly anticipating it.  It didn't disappoint.  Yes, it was humorous and well written, it had fantastic protagonists with their own silly quirks, one an extrovert and one an introvert.  But it also had some serious themes as well.  An ex-boyfriend with serious issues, an innocent brother in prison, and patients in Hospice, where Leon worked as a nurse.  For at least half of the book the two protagonists shared a flat without ever seeing each other, never knowing what each other looked like, but getting to know each other almost intimately by leaving lots and lots of post-it notes back-and-forth.  Very cleverly and satisfyingly done.  Not a steamy romance , but with its own kind of tension and build-up.  Of course it has the prerequisite friends, in this case three of them -  one being a lawyer and one being a psychologist.  It does not hurt the plot, LOL, or take away from me giving it five stars, but it probably should (snort, snort).  I enjoyed the book greatly in the midst of this quarantined pandemic as I EPPed my fingers raw.

Goodreads synopsis:  Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met.
          After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.
          Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet.
          Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes – first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more.
          But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea…especially if you've never met.
          What if your roommate is your soul mate? A joyful, quirky romantic comedy, Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare is a feel-good novel about finding love in the most unexpected of ways.

51. Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

listened on Audible
read by Lauren Ezzo
Unabridged audio (9:57)
2019 Lake Union Publishing
332 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 6/7/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 22,437 ratings
My rating:  4.5

First line/s:  "The girl could be a changeling.  She was almost invisible, her pale face, hoodie and pants fading into the twilit woods behind her.  Her feet were bare.  She stood motionless, one arm hooked around a hickory trunk , and she didn't move when the car crunched to the end of the gravel driveway and stopped a few yards away."

My comments:  There might be a few very small spoilers in the following response to this book.  Every now and then you read a story that is so touching and so different that you don't care as much about the coincidences and the too-good-to-be-true ending as you might usually.  This was a charming story from beginning to end, where a broken, genius, - and I must say, with a bit of a rolling eye: manipulative - child wins all the good things she deserves.  It's about people that aren't' as broken as they thought they were coming together to make things right.  And make things work.  I enjoyed everything about this book - the characters, the setting, and even the reality of too-stupid-to-be-real laws and child welfare rules.  Highly recommended.

Goodreads synopsis: An Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Postbestseller.
          In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again.
          After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.
          The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa’s past.
          Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore?
          Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars. 

68. The Hired Girl - Laura Amy Schlitz

2015 Candlewick Press
387 pgs.
YS Historical Fiction
Finished 12/12/15
Goodreads rating:  4.05
My rating:4.5 - an excellent read
Setting:  1911 Baltimore, Md.

First line/s:  Sunday, June the fourth, 1911  "Today Miss Chandler gave me this beautiful book.  I vow that I will never forget her kindness to me, and I will use this book as she told me to - I will write in it with truth and refinement."

My comments:  The book is divided into seven "parts," each with a painting as it frontispiece and title. The paintings are acknowledged in the back of the book with painter, date, size, and gallery where each can be found.  I liked this.  The story is about Joan Skaggs (who renamed herself Janet Lovelace), a fourteen year old abused runaway who becomes the hired girl for an upper-class Jewish family in Baltimore.  The story is told from her point-of-view, in first person format, which works really well for this interesting tale.  I particularly enjoyed all the reference to cultural Judaism, which I've learned so much about in my last few years teaching in a Jewish day school.

Becky's review from Becky's Book Reviews

Goodreads Summary:  Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future. 

Inspired by her grandmother’s journal, Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her sharp wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a comedic tour de force destined to become a modern classic. Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) takes its reader on an exploration of feminism and housework, religion and literature, love and loyalty, cats, hats, bunions, and burns.

55. Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

2013 St. Martin's Press

328 pgs.

YA CRF

Finished 12-14-2013

Goodreads Rating: 4.22 (37,330 ratings)

My Rating: Great Story (4) 

TPPL

Setting: 1980s Omaha, Nebraska

1^st sentence/s: "XTC was no good for drowning out the morons at the back of the bus. Park pressed his headphones into his ears."

My comments:  Even though there were very NON-sweet things going on in this book, the love story between Eleanor and Park was incredibly sweet. I particularly enjoyed the way the story slipped back and forth from each of the protagonist's point-of-view, but only spent short sections in this manner, not long ones.  I was dreading the ending, but Rowell handled it perfectly.  Excellent story.

Goodreads Review:  Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

60. Sweethearts - Sarah Zarr

Little Brown & Co., 1988
paper $7.99
220 pgs.
for: YA
Rating:  3.5

First Line/s:  A dripping faucet.  Crumbs and a pink stain on the counter.  Half of a skin-black banana that smells as old as it looks.  If I look at these things and at nothing else, concentrate on them and stay still, and don't make any noise, this will be over soon and I can go home without Cameron's dad ever knowing I'm here.

OSS:  When Cameron Quick reappears in Jennifer Harris' life after being the closest of friends as children, she is thrown for a loop.

Setting;  A ruralish area in Salt Lake City, contemporary times.

Cameron and Jennifer were best - and only - friends when they were young and they were both outcasts and bullied and unhappy.  They had each other, and that made their lives a lot better.  But then Cameron and his family disappear without a word, and Jennifer is left unsettled and wondering...for years.  She sheds weight, gains confidence, changes schools, and has a good life.  And then Cameron reappears.  Mysteriously.  And keeps disappearing, then reappearing.  Jen has a great boyfriend, lots of great friends, a stepfather that has helped stabilize her life, but with Cameron's reappearance she thinks, rethinks, remembers, and makes some interesting choices and decisions. 

Some of those memories involve learning about and watching the abuse that Cameron's father inflicted upon his family, particularly his son, and once, on her.  This was a very interesting book to read.  I kept thinking I'd already read it, but it must have been some of the scenes reminded me of other stories, because I'm quite sure I haven't read this before.  Okay.  Checked and saw that I read it when it first came out.  Guess it wasn't as memorable the first time around....

19. Hush - Eishes Chayil

Walker & Co., 2010
for: young adults and adults
HC $16.99
360 pgs.
Rating: 4

Eishes Chayil is a pseudonym. This book is written by a member of the Hassidic community in New York, and is an eye-opening page-turner. The first half of the book flips back and forth between 2000, when Gittel was nine, and 2008, when she was 17. The second half of the book is set a bit later, after Gittel is out of high school, 18, and hoping to find a husband and marry. This is what her whole life has built towards, marriage, and children. A family of her own. We watch her become engaged....married....pregnant. But as this all happens, she is becoming more frequently visited by a ghost from her past, a ghost who won't let go until Gittel does something to help her.

This is the premise of the story. Gittel is haunted by the best friend who committed suicide when they were 9. Devory had been sexually abused by her brother. The biggest problem - her community's "hushing up" of this sort of event. There are lots of great reviews out there in cyberspace, lots of raves for this book. I'll add a few links below.

I was, of course, appalled and upset by the premise of the book. But I was more distressed by the things I learned about the Hassidic community. The extreme hatred of "goyim." The absolute lack-of-knowledge about sex and sexuality. And the place of the female in this culture. More than extreme. Racism. Hatred. I realize that this sect of Judaism is very small, but it quite freaked me out.

Here's a review from a Jew in her blog, Bad for Shidduchim (and I learned, from reading Hush, the Shidduch means an engagement) I don't think she's an orthodox Jew, though. And then there's the review in The Curious Jew. And here's a third, from The Velveteen Rabbi.

9. Burned - Ellen Hopkins

Audio read by Laura Flanagan, who gets high marks
For: YA, definitely older YA
published 2006
5 unabridged cd's
5 hrs. 15 min.
544 pages - told in free verse form
Rating: Ooooh...hard to say......some is 2...some is 4....so 3, I guess

After I heard the first minute or so I almost didn't continue. I should have realized that this beginning part was definitely foreshadowing. Pattyn Von Stratton, just ending her junior year in high school, is the oldest of seven sisters with pregnant mom finally about to have another sibling. However, this time it will...finally...be a boy.

Thre's so much to say about Pattyn and her family. They're Mormons who live in Carson City, Nevada. The father is an abusive drunk. The mother, although the main target of the abuse, sits on the couch and watches reality tv all day while the daughters cook and clean and vacuum and change diapers. The girls are raised to obey the father, be righteous, attend Sunday testimonies, and never...ever...think for themselves. They wear homemade clothing and have few friends.

When a male classmate becomes interested in Pattyn, she is torn in two directions - what her bishop and father have taught her, and what her own feelings..and all the reading she's done....are telling her. Then her father catches her in an uncompromising position and sends her for the summer to stay with his estranged sister in the middle of Nevada. This is where I had my second wonderings about the book. Aunt Jeannette was a wonderful, caring, thoughtful, liberal feminist who had nothing good at all to say or do with the father. Why would he ever send Pattyn there? And then Pattyn has a wonderful, love (and sex)-filled summer learning to drive, to ride, and to trust herself and her feelings.

But disaster after disaster happens once she has to go back home. One bad thing right after the next. The ending , after all these disasters, is what any thoughtful reader should have realized right from the first few lines was going to happen.

You hear the last words of the story and say, to yourself: "Okay." "What?" "Well...." and "Yuh, I guess so." I KNOW that if I had any inkling about what was going to take place in this book, I wouldn't have read it. I don't know if I'm glad I had no inkling and DID read it, or would have rather not read it at all.

MOVIE - Precious

Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Powerful. Great acting. Tough to watch.
Limited release 11-6-09
R (1:49)
1/5/10 at El Con with Kate & Julia
RT: 92% cag: 94%
Fandango: 79/100
Director: Lee Daniels

Whew. This was a tough one to watch.

When I was at a Lucy Calkins Workshop at Columbia University about ten years ago, this book was recommended to me by some NYC teachers. I bought it and read it then and there. I've read a few books since then, so I only remember the hazy storyline, but I was really looking forward to seeing how the story was put onto film.

This isn't the kind of movie that you could say you "enjoy." It's too sad, dark, infuriating. But it is magnificently presented. The acting is phenominal. Mo'nique, who played the protagonist's mother, was amazing. The young woman who played Claireece Precious Jones was really something. A makeup-less Mariah Carey and a caring Paula Patton, along with a wonderful cast of classmates AND Lenny Kravitz, well...... it was cast so well. The filming was interesting. As much as I got into the story, it was also interesting to watch where the camera went and how it got there. There were some really interesting scenes from Precious' imagination, the scenes she created in her mind to take her elsewhere. There were layers and layers of interesting technical additions. Fascinating.

The story. Precious has been abused her entire life. Abuse like most of us could never imagine. Mentally, physically, sexually. At sixteen she is pregnant with her second baby, and her own father is the culprit. She lives in almost-silence. She has never learned to read, although she understands and enjoys math. This story, set in the 1980's, begins when she is expelled from school because of her pregnancy. The principal follows up and gives Precious information about an alternative school. This decision, slowly but surely, changes her life. Watching this young woman learn, live....and love.....is an exhausting trip. I was drained at the end of the movie. There is a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel, I guess. Phew. After a little more reflection I'll have more to say.

Here's a link to a NY Times article about the movie. (Thanks, Julia)

15. The Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry

AUDIO read by Alyssa Bresnahan (she was great)
For: Adults
Book Pub: 2008
Audio: 10 discs/11.5 hours
400 pgs.
Rating: 4.5
Finished: Mar. 5, 2009
"You have to go back to go forward."

Now this was one interesting story. Confusing. Fascinating. Great setting. You knew there'd be a surprise at the end. There was. I think it was this author's first, which is quite commendable. I did not rate this a 5 because it was a little too depressing, overall, I felt I needed to knock off a half point for that.

There are five parts in this book, and much of it is told in the first person by the protagonist, Towner Whitney. She has returned home from California after 15 years to look into the disappearance of her beloved Aunt, Eva. Eva lives in an old mansion on the shore in the center of Salem, Massachusetts, where she runs a tearoom, keeps a huge garden, speaks in proverbs, and swims most every day, even at 85. Oh yes, she reads lace, telling fortunes to all who ask. Towner is fifth generation "reader", and her sensitivity - along with abuse, force her at age 17 into a mental hospital for drug and shock treatment. She left everything behind for fifteen years, but now comes home and has to confront it all. Witches and covens, Calvinists and modern day Puritans, boating and islands, lace-making and abuse shelters, even red-hat ladies and references to 17th century Salem witches careen through this story at a break-neck pace. There's old love and new love, cops and drunks, tourists and townies. It's a good story, all twisting and turning and keeping you on your toes, wondering what's true and what's not. You know a lot is not true, because Towner begins her tale telling us that she is a liar, that she very rarely tells the truth.

I went on to Brunonia Barry's website, and she says that this is written as a hero's journey for women, which is different than a male's hero journey. Many women are need to help this journey happen.

"Every gift has a price. Every piece of lace has a secret." This read was fascinating and thought-provoking. I knitted like crazy as I listened, sneezed, and blew my nose.

57. Living Dead Girl - Elizabeth Scott

For YA (ARC says 16+)
Published: Sept, 2008
176 pgs.
Rating: Unrateable
Read in one sitting, after school today

Tragic
Heartbreaking
Unforgettable
Disturbingly Disturbing
Older YA - NOT MS, for sure!

15-year old "Alice" was kidnapped from a school field trip when she was ten and in the fifth grade. Terrorized into thinking that her abductor, Ray, would kill her family, she submitted completely to him, mentally, sexually...and became an empty shell. He wanted a "little" girl, and has been starving her to keep her under 100 pounds, de-hairing her to keep her innocent-appearing, and rarely lets her out of his grip. Now he decides he needs a new, younger "Alice" and is forcing her to help him find and capture her. I hated it. I had to finish it. I couldn't stop. I had to find out what happened. Reluctantly.

Reader beware: though the descriptions are not what one might consider extremely"graphic", this book left nothing to the imagination. We see every painful, constant assault. But it was beautifully written and a fast read, though repetetive in places.

I'd love to think that this could and would never happen. Unfortunately, I am certain that it wlll, can, and has. What is our world coming to? I know they're out there. How? Why?

How would this young woman EVER be able to lead a normal life?

46. The Rules of Survival - Nancy Werlin

For: Young Adult
Pub: 2006
273 pgs.
Rating: 5/5
Finished: Sept. 2, 2008
POWERFUL

Beautifully written, this heartbreaking story is in the form of a letter from 18-year old Matthew to his 9-year old sister, Emmy. Until three years previously, Matthew, Emmy, and his just-barely younger sister Callie have lived in a horrifying world with their mother. Nikki, in South Boston. She is crazy. It's never give it a name, but she's got to be some sort of schizophrenic, bi-polar, narcissitic crazy stalker woman. They never, EVER know what to expect from her: love, screams, violence, or even a knife to their neck...all in the name of "fun". The kids have coped, learning "how to survive" for years, until Matthew realizes that her demons have invaded her soul and someone's going to be hurt badly.

Supposedly these children come out emotionally unscathed. Their strength, their saviness, their instincts are all unbelievable, yet....believable. At the end of the letter, Matthew tells Emmy that he knows he'll never actually give her the letter. Perhaps it's been a catharsis for him.

Wow. Next Tuesday my Teacher Book Club will be discussing this. I'll write more then. I can't wait to hear their insights.