March: Book Two (March #2) by John Robert Lewis, Andrew Aydin

Picking up where March: Book 1 ended this time Congressman Lewis tells of his time as a Freedom Rider, becoming head of the SNCC, beatings, jail time, and the August 1963 March On Washington.

Of all those who spoke that day John Lewis is the only one still alive.

None of this is pretty, in fact it is quite brutal. But it is important to know what people did to others who they felt were less than human because of the color of their skin. Because the past is ugly doesn't mean it should be swept under the rug and denied. Rather it should be studied, and each generation should learn the lessons and strive to do better than those who came before. It is the only thing that will bring about peace and equality.

Read this. Please.

(Finished May 27, 2015)

March: Book One (March #1) by John Robert Lewis, Andrew Aydin

Book 1 of a trilogy of graphic novels telling the story of Congressman John Lewis, what he witnessed and the part he played in the civil rights movement.

Book 1 starts with some background on his childhood, such as when he was a child he wanted to be a preacher and used to practice preaching to his chickens.

As a young college student now he gets to meet Dr Martin Luther King Jr. which is an exciting event.  Congressman Lewis also takes part in the early sit-ins at lunch counters in Montgomery. He gets arrested and witnesses the ugliness of segregation first hand. But interspersed in the events in this first volume are scenes that take place in 2009 in the Congressman's office as he talks to a woman and her two young sons who have come to DC and he gets ready for a special event.


These promise to be important books. Using the graphic novel style of writing makes these accessible to todays teens who may not be as informed as they should be on these events. It is really important to make sure these events are remembered and the participants honored.


(Finished May 26, 2015)

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness

I read this book, book 1 in a trilogy because I have a thing for autographed books and for reading the work of alumna of what has become my beloved school, Mount Holyoke College. While I was in the Odyssey Bookshop they had autographed copies of book 3 so I bought it. Then my friend Liz gave me book 1.

When I started reading this book I wasn't sure I liked it. There were little tinges that brought to mind Twilight. The story of a Vampire getting involved with someone who wasn't one. But it was short lived. The more I read the more I liked it.

What A Discovery of Witches turned out to be on the surface is a supernatural story full of magic, witches, vampires, and daemons living among humans. It is also seems to be about Diana, an extremely reluctant witch, Matthew, a very old, very powerful vampire, and the rules that govern the interaction between the different non-human members of the population.

What the story really is under the surface is a story of prejudice and fear of those who are different and not fully understood. It is the story of love in the face of opposition and danger. And yes, it is a supernatural story filled with creatures and magic.

What started for me as a maybe turned out to be quite enjoyable and left me wanting more.

(Finished May 26, 2015)  

The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel

I've had this on my want-to-read list for quite some time, but when I saw it was about to be a TV series I felt the need to read it before the show aired. I am very glad I did.

When the first men to join the NASA program as astronauts were announced, as much attention and scrutiny if not more was focused on their wives. They had to be the epitome of the perfect 1950's housewives well into the 1960's and 1970's.

Most of the book tell the story of the original seven wives:

• Rene Carpenter (wife of Scott Carpenter)
• Trudy Cooper (wife of "Gordo" Cooper)
• Annie Glen (wife of John Glenn)
• Betty Grissom (wife of Gus Grissom)
• Jo Schirra (wife of Wally Schirra)
• Louise Shepard (wife of Alan Shepard)
• Marge Slayton (wife of Deke Slayton)  

They were later joined by among others, Janet Armstrong, Marilyn Lovell, and Joan Aldrin. 

These women met with presidents, kings, and movie stars. They were shadowed by a crew from Life magazine. They were expected to behave a certain way and support their husbands no matter what. They were part of an elite club that was at once supportive and competitive. It was believed that the better the marriage appeared the more likely the best space flights assignments would be given to their husbands. Some of them truly had loving marriages but many were a mess. Infidelity was rampant in these marriages but divorce was unthinkable. 

But these women, oh how strong they were. Their husbands were so often absent from their homes, they were practically single mothers. And even when the men were home on weekends NASA admonished the wives to not bother the husbands with household chores, problems with the children, or any other mundane things. They were basically to feed their men well (steak and eggs was a big thing), and let them be. 

Over the course of their time as NASA wives Kennedy was assassinated, so was MLK Jr and RFK, the war in Vietnam raged on, feminism was becoming a real movement, and they were discouraged from modernizing their attitudes, they kept beehive hairdos longer than anyone. But they formed a bond, were not as blind or naive as people thought, and most of them survived and did it well. Some became widows and eventually many divorced. 

I do not know how they will be portrayed on the upcoming television version but Lily Koppel does a beautiful job telling their story. These are amazing women!!

(Finished May 23, 2015)

Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine

I got to read this as before it was released as part of Penguin Books first to read program. It was in a galley form and a PDF, so I read it on my tablet. I tell you that last part because it was really interesting to be reading an electronic document and not a physical, paper book of this particular book given the story.


The Great Library is headquartered in Alexandria, Egypt and the rest of the world has daughter libraries. The only place where there are physical, original, ink and paper, leather covered, real, books is in The Great Library. People are not allowed to own originals. Instead there are these things that look like books called blanks. When you want to read something you use a blank to call it up and it appears in the blank, you read it and then it is gone, your book, your blank, is empty again.

In this world the biggest black market is in books, rare and ancient books, and smuggling is a dangerous occupation. There are also people called burners who think burning books is a political statement protesting against The Great Library.

And among those seeking books are creepy people called Ink Lickers who get their hands on books and then eat them. It is considered a great perversion to those who reside in this world.

In between chapters are interesting  notes between the hierarchy that give glimpses into the back room secrets of society.

With this as the backdrop a young man from a smuggler family becomes a student of The Great Library with instructions to help his father use this position to help smuggle books when possible. But what young Jess finds is much more than he ever imagined, danger, murder, war, lies, secrets, and maybe even redemption.

This was a great start to a new series and I am anxiously awaiting more.

(Finished May 21, 2015)

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

I picked this one up without reading the summary on the back or knowing anything about it except that the author is Lauren Graham. I loved her on Gilmore Girls and Parenthood and figured I'd love her as a writer. I wasn't disappointed.

The style of her writing reminded me of Caprice Crane. The main character is a 20-something, quirky  young woman who is not exactly comfortable in her own skin but is trying to be. Crane does it better but Graham is pretty good.

In Someday, Someday, Maybe we meet Franny, an aspiring actress living in Brooklyn NY (my hometown) who is almost at the end of her self-imposed "make it or go home" deadline.

Franny live with her best friend Jane who is working as an production assistant on a real movie set and their third roommate Dan an aspiring screen writer who gave up his premed track to write a science fiction script. She attends acting classes, works as a waitress at a comedy club, and goes on auditions. She is pretty funny, even when she isn't trying to be, especially when she isn't trying to be.

Will she make it, get her big break before her deadline? Does it matter if she does?

While I will admit this wasn't the end all be all of books I have read, I enjoyed it and would read more by Graham is she ever wrote more.

(Finished May 19, 2015)

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais

The trailer for the movie made me want to read this book, but it was not at all what I expected, thought I am not sure exactly what I expected.

It is a fairly quick read and at first glance feels a little shallow. By that I mean the number of years covered in about 270 pages means there is not a lot of detail in any one year of Hassan's journey.

And it is a journey. From India to London to Lumire in the French Alps and finally to Paris. Hassan losses his mother and home land and finds his passion for cooking. His family is crazy, loud, colorful, and they really love each other. There is not a lot of deep diving into the everyday workings of the relationship he has with them but it is of vital importance, especially with his father. You end up with a good understanding of how they all fit together.

The biggest thread that runs through his life is the need for feeling at home when you have lost the land you feel in your bones is home. Food is a main character and used to tell the tale of Hassan's trek from cooking Indian food in a family run establishment to a Michelin Star chef in Paris.

Glossed over, and the one area I wish was explored more, is how the loss if his mother and his need to be successful has kept him from creating a family of his own.

I really did enjoy the story, even though I had to skim over some of the names of foods and places because I don't read (or speak) French. Oh and I am craving curry now.

Now I am interested in seeing the film and see how this translates to the screen.

(Finished May 17, 2015)

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

You're life has fallen apart, you don't want to tell anyone so you try to keep your routine. And so you ride the train everyday and your attention is drawn to a couple you can see everyday as you pass their home. You get a glimpse lasting a few seconds to a minute at a time and your create a life for them in your imagination. Then something happens, you see something you wish you hadn't.


That is the setup for The Girl on the Train. If you liked Gone Girl you will like this. It is a similar formula, one story told from the point of view of different characters and they all head towards what really happened and you don't know who is reliable or if anyone is.

Rachel is a mess. She drinks too much, so much so that it has left her with huge blank spots in her memory. She has lost everything that mattered to her. So when she sees a chance to add some purpose back into her life she takes it. But it goes nothing like she expected it and what happens next is a dizzy, crazy trip into the case of a missing person.

Take a ride on the crazy train!!

(Finished May 15, 2015)

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Have you ever read a book that when you are done you miss the world within the book? This is one of those.

An Ember in the Ashes has everything I look for in a book that starts a series, well drawn characters, raising thought provoking questions, and an interesting world.

Some of the big questions Tahir raises in her pages are; is too much knowledge a bad thing, and when one group of people are out of control and are overtaking others in abusive ways and then the others rise up and win their freedom but then enslave their former tormentors, how long, for how many generations, should this go on before it stops being protective retribution and becomes a recreation of what they went through...

The chapters alternate POV's between Laia, a scholar who lost her grandparents and whose brother is being held in prison by the Martial Empire, and Elias who is about to graduate from the Empire's elite warrior training academy.

It isn't easy to write in different voices but Tahir does it really well, Laia and Elias have very distinct personalities that come across very clearly. The story is so well written that when I finished the book and closed it I was immediately missing them and the world they live in. I want to know what happens next, I want to spend more time with them and can't stop thinking about the questions raised.

(Finished May 8, 2015)

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

We all know the story of Dorothy and her trip to Oz, munchkins, good witches, bad witches, flying monkeys, and loyal friends made of tin, fur, and straw.

But what if there is more that happens after "There's no place like home"?

What if Dorothy comes back, and what if she gets hooked on magic and wants it all for herself? And what if she becomes a horrible person and does horrible things? What if Glinda is working with Dorothy? And what of Scarecrow is a straw version of Dr. Frankenstein but worse?

And then what if what we know as good and evil gets flipped and Amy, a new visitor from Kansas lands in OZ and it more Mad Max than Lollypop Guild?

That's what you have here. And it is really an interesting retooling of the classic story.

It is not perfect. At times I found myself rolling my eyes at Amy's thoughts and wishing the writing was better, typically when it is about Amy and her feelings for boys. But then the story would pick back up and get rolling again. It really is an interesting concept, reexamining what makes someone good and what makes them evil, what is good and what is right, flipping our ideas on their head.

I liked this enough that I am anxious to read book two as well as the prequel stories which started as e-books and have been published together in one paperback edition.

Not the best writing in the world but the story made up for it.

(Finished May 11, 2015)

The Three: A Novel (The Three #1) by Sarah Lotz

My friend Ann recommend this one. I am not sure if I should thank her, heck, I'm not sure you should thank me for passing on the recommendation to you, however, I am sure you should read this book.

The Three are the survivors of plane crashes. But not just any plane crashes. On one day there are 4 plane crashes. Three of the crashes have one survivor. One child. There is a suspected 4th survivor but no one can find this one.

There are people who think this was an alien controlled set of incidents and the children were switched with aliens pretending to be the kids.

There are people who think these crashes are the beginning of the end signaling the rapture is about to begin and that the children are the horseman of the apocalypse referred to in Revelation.

Then there are those who think these are just children who were lucky enough to survive tragedy.

But then strange things begin to happen around them.

So who are they really? How did they survive?


The style of this novel is that it is a novel within a novel. The story of the children is weaved together by an author telling the story of the crashes and the life of the children and those around them after the crash. It is an interesting style and added to the tension built throughout the reading of this one.

This is a good, creepy, mind-fuck of a book.

(Finished May 8, 2015)

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

I first became aware of Jhumpa Lahiri when my friend Beth insisted I read interpreter of maladies. I then went on to read Unaccustomed Earth. 

For my third voyage I visited The Lowland. The story of two brothers so connected yet so far apart is everything I have come to love about Jhumpa. The story jumps ahead at times, leaving blanks in the story, but you won't mind. It is something she does very well and if you've read any of her short stories you will be familiar with the feeling, the feeling of jumping into the lives of the characters, getting a glimpse of a time in their story then jumping back out. 

While this is supposed to be the story of two brothers and the different paths they take and how their loves converge again I felt like is was more the story of what it means to be a mother and what happens when loss gets in the way of the job. From the mother of the brothers who set the story in motion, then to her daughter-in-law, and finally her granddaughter it is the women who have the most depth and it really is their story. 

The history of India that is used at the back drop for the story was as much a character as the people and it was very interesting yet often sad. 

A lot of emotion was felt while reading this novel. 

(Finished May 1, 2015)