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459. Maybe in Another Life

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Drue Emerson

Author:   Taylor Jenkins Reid

Genre:   Fiction, Romance

342 pages, published July 7, 2015

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

29 year old Hannah Martin is at a crossroads in her life.  Spending her twenties bouncing from city to city and job to job, she returns to her hometown of Los Angeles to be close to her best friend Gabby.  Shortly after relocating, she meets up with ex-boyfriend Ethan at a bar with friends.  At the end of the evening Hannah has to decide whether to go home with Ethan or not.  At this point, the book follows the two differing paths that her life will take depending on that fateful decision.

Quotes 

“I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices and they led me somewhere else, led me to someone else. And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn’t end up with you.”

 

“Life is long and full of an infinite number of decisions. I have to think that the small ones don’t matter, that I’ll end up where I need to end up no matter what I do.”

 

“When you sit there and wish things had happened differently, you can’t just wish away the bad stuff. You have to think about all the good stuff you might lose, too. Better just to stay in the now and focus on what you can do better in the future.”

 

“That’s what you do when you want something. You don’t look for reasons why it won’t work. You look for reasons why it will.”

 

“I think I have to believe that life will work out the way it needs to. If everything that happens in the world is just a result of chance and there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it, that’s just too chaotic for me to handle. I’d have to go around questioning every decision I’ve ever made, every decision I will ever make. If our fate is determined with every step we take . . . it’s too exhausting. I’d prefer to believe that things happen as they are meant to happen.”

 

“Fate or not, our lives are still the results of our choices.”

 

“It doesn’t matter if we don’t mean to do the things we do. It doesn’t mean if it was an accident or a mistake. It doesn’t even matter if we think this is all up to fate. Because regardless of our destiny, we still have to answer for our actions. We make choices, big and small, every day of our lives, and those choices have consequences.”

 

“I’m just going to do my best and live under the assumption that if there are things in this life that we are supposed to do, if there are people in this world we are supposed to love, we’ll find them. In time. The future is so incredibly unpredictable that trying to plan for it is like studying for a test you’ll never take. I’m OK in this moment.”

 

“If you love someone, if you think you could make them happy for the rest of your life together, then nothing should stop you. You should be prepared to take them as they are and deal with the consequences. Relationships aren’t neat and clean. They’re ugly and messy, and they make almost no sense except to the two people in them. That’s what I think. I think if you truly love someone, you accept the circumstances; you don’t hide behind them.”

 

“You can only forgive yourself for the mistakes you made in the past once you know you’ll never make them again.”

 

“You don’t need to find the perfect thing all the time. Just find one that works, and go with it.”

 

“It’s very easy to rationalize what you’re doing when you don’t know the faces and the names of the people you might hurt. It’s very easy to choose yourself over someone else when it’s an abstract.”

 

“I don’t believe that being in love absolves you of anything. I no longer believe that all’s fair in love and war. I’d go so far as to say your actions in love are not an exception to who you are. They are, in fact, the very definition of who you are.”

 

My Take

Maybe in Another Life is the first book that I have read by Taylor Jenkins Reid and it was a fun chicklit escape.  In fact, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how quickly I sped through it.  It made me think a bit about the role that both chance and choice play in our life.  While not novel, the characters and plot more than hold your interest until the two satisfying conclusions.

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457. The Optimist’s Daughter

Rating:  ☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Terra McKinish

Author:   Eudora Welty

Genre:   Fiction

192 pages, published 1972

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

The Optimist’s Daughter is the story of Laurel McKelva Hand, a young woman who has left the South and returns, years later, to New Orleans, where her father is dying. After his death, she and her foolish young stepmother travel to the small Mississippi town where Laurel grew up.  Alone in the old house, Laurel finally comes to an understanding of the past, herself, and her parents.

Quotes 

“The mystery in how little we know of other people is no greater than the mystery of how much, Laurel thought.”

 

“She was sent to sleep under a velvety cloak of words, richly patterned and stitched with gold, straight out of a fairy tale, while they went reading on into her dreams.”

 

“And perhaps it didn’t matter to them, not always, what they read aloud; it was the breath of life flowing between them, and the words of the moment riding on it that held them in delight. Between some two people every word is beautiful, or might as well be beautiful.”

 

“You know, sir, this operation is not, in any hands, a hundred percent predictable?”

“Well, I’m an optimist.”

“I didn’t know there were any more such animals,” said Dr. Courtland.

“Never think you’ve seen the last of anything,”

 

“The fantasies of dying could be no stranger than the fantasies of living. Survival is perhaps the strangest fantasy of them all.”

 

“It is memory that is the somnambulist. It will come back in its wounds from across the world, like Phil, calling us by our names and demanding its rightful tears. It will never be impervious. The memory can be hurt, time and again — but in that may lie its final mercy. As long as it’s vulnerable to the living moment, it lives for us, and while it lives, and while we are able, we can give it up its due.”

 

My Take

Some books stand the test of time (I’m looking at you John Steinbeck) and some do not.  Unfortunately, The Optimist’s Daughter falls into the latter category.  I say this even though it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973 and was a National Book Award Finalist for Fiction that same year.  I found it hard to follow, had little interest in the plot or characters and was bored throughout.

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456. The Book of Life

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:    Deborah Harkness

Genre:   Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

561 pages, published July 15, 2014

Reading Format:  Audio Book on Overdrive

Summary

The Book of Life is the third book in Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy.  We follow star crossed lovers witch Diana, who is pregnant with twins, and vampire Matthew as they return from their time-travelling escapade in Elizabethan London to the present day.  They reconvene with family and friends at Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, where they plan a defense against Benjamin, Matthew’s vampire son who is out to create a vampire witch child and is leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

Quotes 

“I see you, even when you hide from the rest of the world. I hear you, even when you’re silent.”

 

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

 

“the wolf who wins is the wolf you feed. The evil wolf feeds on anger, guilt, sorrow, lies, and regret. The good wolf needs a diet of love and honesty, spiced up with big spoonfuls of compassion and faith. So if you want the good wolf to win, you’re going to have to starve the other one.”

 

“I watched in silence as the parts of Matthew I knew and loved—the poet and the scientist, the warrior and the spy, the Renaissance prince and the father—fell away until only the darkest, most forbidding part of him remained. He was only the assassin now. But he was still the man I loved.”

 

“No, I’m a vampire.” Matthew stepped forward, joining Chris under the projector’s light. “And before you ask, I can go outside during the day and my hair won’t catch fire in the sunlight. I’m Catholic and have a crucifix. When I sleep, which is not often, I prefer a bed to a coffin. If you try to stake me, the wood will likely splinter before it enters my skin.” He bared his teeth. “No fangs either. And one last thing: I do not, nor have I ever, sparkled.” Matthew’s face darkened to emphasize the point.”

 

My Take

While I enjoyed book one A Discovery of Witches and book two Shadow of Night in the All Souls Trilogy, The Book of Life (book three) was my favorite.  It moves along at a faster clip than the first two and it doesn’t hurt that the author has upped the stakes.  I was satisfied with the resolution of the triology (although I hear there is another book in the series) and enjoyed the time I spent in the fantasy world created by historian and writer Harkness.

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454. The Sympathizer

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Valerie Flores

Author:   Viet Thanh Nguyen

Genre:   Fiction, Historical Fiction, Foreign

371 pages, published April 7, 2015

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

Set as the flashback in a coerced confession of a political prisoner, The Sympathizer tells the story of his escape from South Vietnam in the mid-70’s to his life in Los Angeles.  Unnamed, the narrator is the illegitimate child of a French father and a poor Vietnamese mother who, as an adult in exile becomes an undercover communist agent, reporting back to the Viet Cong.  The book tells the story of a life lived between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War.

Quotes 

“Nothing is ever so expensive as what is offered for free.”

 

“We don’t succeed or fail because of fortune or luck. We succeed because we understand the way the world works and what we have to do. We fail because others understand this better than we do.”

 

“While it is better to be loved than hated, it is also far better to be hated than ignored.”

 

“Americans on the average do not trust intellectuals, but they are cowed by power and stunned by celebrity.”

 

“It is always better to admire the best among our foes rather than the worst among our friends.”

 

“Now a guarantee of happiness—that’s a great deal. But a guarantee to be allowed to pursue the jackpot of happiness? Merely an opportunity to buy a lottery ticket. Someone would surely win millions, but millions would surely pay for it.”

 

“Besides my conscience, my liver was the most abused part of my body.”

 

“I had an abiding respect for the professionalism of career prostitutes, who wore their dishonesty more openly than lawyers, both of whom bill by the hour.”

 

“She cursed me at such length and with such inventiveness I had to check both my watch and my dictionary.”

 

“Death would hurt only for a moment, which was not so bad when one considered how much, and for how long, life hurt.”

 

“Americans are a confused people because they can’t admit this contradiction. They believe in a universe of divine justice where the human race is guilty of sin, but they also believe in a secular justice where human beings are presumed innocent.”

 

“Our country itself was cursed, bastardized, partitioned into north and south, and if it could be said of us that we chose division and death in our uncivil war, that was also only partially true. We had not chosen to be debased by the French, to be divided by them into an unholy trinity of north, center, and south, and to be turned over to the great powers of capitalism and communism for a further bisection, then given roles as the clashing armies of a Cold War chess match played in air-conditioned rooms by white men wearing suits and lies.”

 

“Remember that the best medical treatment is a sense of relativism. No matter how badly you might feel, take comfort in knowing theres’s someone who feels much worse.”

 

“The only problem with not talking to oneself was that oneself was the most fascinating conversational partner one could imagine. Nobody had more patience in listening to one than oneself, and while nobody knew one better than oneself, nobody misunderstood one more than oneself.”

 

My Take

Winner of the Pulitizer Prize and many other awards, The Sympathizer is a heavily acclaimed book.  While I often find there is an inverse correlation between the amount of honors and reading enjoyment, I did enjoy this book, which is equal parts amusing, horrific, informative and entertaining.  It also provides a unique perspective on the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, both in that country and ours.

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453. Middle England

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:

Author:    Jonathan Coe

Genre:   Fiction, Foreign

448 pages, published August 20, 2019

Reading Format:  Audio Book on Overdrive

Summary

Middle England follows the lives of several interrelated Brits in the ten years leading up to Brexit:  newlyweds Ian and Sophie, whose different world views may imperil their marriage; Doug, a journalist who writes about politics while parenting a radical SJW teenage daughter; Benjamin Trotter, who finds moderate career success in middle age with the publication of a book, and his father Colin, whose last wish is to vote LEAVE in the Brexit referendum.

Quotes 

“Some people don’t realize that a straight ‘No’ can be the kindest answer in the world.”

 

“Making armaments, they were, munitions, aeroplane parts. Can you imagine! Can you imagine what it was like, hundreds of people, working together like that, for the war effort? What a spirit, eh? What a country we were back then! ‘Whatever happened to all that? It was bad enough when I was working here. Every man for himself, survival of the fittest, I’m all right, Jack. That’s what was starting to take over. But now it’s even worse, it’s just . . . fancy clothes and Prosecco bars and bloody . . . packets of salad. We’ve gone soft, that’s the problem. No wonder the rest of the world’s laughing at us.’”

 

“the unspeakable truth: that Sophie (and everyone like her) and Helena (and everyone like her) might be living cheek-by-jowl in the same country, but they also lived in different universes, and these universes were separated by a wall, infinitely high, impermeable, a wall built out of fear and suspicion and even –  perhaps – a little bit of those most English of all qualities, shame and embarrassment. Impossible to deal with any of this. The only practical thing was to ignore it (but for how long was that practical, in fact?) and to double down, for now, on the desperate, unconsoling fiction that all of this was just a minor difference of opinion, like not quite seeing eye-to-eye over a neighbour’s choice of colour scheme or the merits of a particular TV show.”

 

“Benjamin had always assumed that he would grow old and die at home; that he was bound to end his life by returning to the country of his childhood. But he was starting to understand, at last, that this place had only ever existed in his imagination.”

“I like the rain before it falls. of course there is no such thing, she said. That’s why it’s my favorite. Something can still make you happy, can’t it, even if it isn’t real.”

 

“Yes – I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I’m sure I could repeat them perfectly.”

 

“We say, ‘Shall we meet for a drink?’, as though drinking were the main end of the appointment, and the matter of company only incidental, we are so shy about admitting our need for one another. We say, ‘Would you like to come for some coffee?’, as though it were less frightening to acknowledge that we are heavily dependent on mildly stimulating drinks, than to acknowledge that we are at all dependent on the companionship of other people.”

 

“[…] words are tricky little bastards, and very rarely say what you want them to say […]”

 

“Politics can make people do terrible things.”

 

My Take

I picked up Middle England at random from Overdrive when I needed a new audiobook to listen to and was very pleasantly surprised.  Author Jonathan Coe is a gifted writer who not only paints a portrait of fascinating individuals, but also of a whole nation.  Middle England gave me a great feel for the sensibilities of modern Britain.

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452. Shadow of Night

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:    Deborah Harkness

Genre:   Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

584 pages, published July 10, 2020

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

Shadow of Night is book two of the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, an historian of science and medicine.  In this book, we follow witch Diana Bishop and vampire Matthew de Clairmont as they travel back in time to Elizabethan England.  While searching for the Book of Life, they encounter Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh and Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia.

Quotes 

“Memories were short and history unkind. It was the way of the world.”

 

“Children needed love, a reliable source of comfort, and an adult willing to take responsibility for them.”

 

“With knot of one, the spell’s begun.

With knot of two, the spell be true.

With knot of three, the spell is free.

With knot of four, the power is stored.

With knot of five, the spell with thrive.

With knot of six, this spell I fix.”

 

“fine initium novum,’” Matthew said, gazing upon the land of his father as though he had, at last, come home. “‘In every ending there is a new beginning.”

 

“In every moment, for the rest of my life, I will be choosing you.”

 

“For storms will rage and oceans roar,

When Gabriel stands on sea and shore,

And as he blows his wondrous horn,

Old worlds die and new be born.”

 

“We don’t lock up books in this house,” Philippe said, “only food, ale, and wine. Reading Herodotus or Aquinas seldom leads to bad behavior.”

 

“Change is the only reliable thing in the world.”

 

“Sex and dominance. It’s what modern humans think vampire relationships are all about,” I said. “Their stories are full of crazed alpha-male vampires throwing women over their shoulders before dragging them off for dinner and a date.” “Dinner and a date?” Matthew was aghast. “Do you mean . . . ?” “Uh-huh. You should see what Sarah’s friends in the Madison coven read. Vampire meets girl, vampire bites girl, girl is shocked to find out there really are vampires. The sex, blood, and overprotective behavior all come quickly thereafter. Some of it is pretty explicit.” I paused. “There’s no time for bundling, that’s for sure. I don’t remember much poetry or dancing either.” Matthew swore. “No wonder your aunt wanted to know if I was hungry.” “You really should read this stuff, if only to see what humans think. It’s a public-relations nightmare. Far worse than what witches have to overcome.”

 

“Nightmares are like Master Harriot’s star glass. They are a trick of the light, one that makes something distant seem closer and larger than it really is.” “Oh.” Jack considered Matthew’s response. “So even if I see a monster in my dreams, it cannot reach me?” Matthew nodded. “But I will tell you a secret. A dream is a nightmare in reverse. If you dream of someone you love, that person will seem closer, even if far away.”

 

My Take

While Shadow of Night is the weakest entry in the All Souls Trilogy, it is still a fun romp through Elizabethan England with two very engaging characters.  My biggest complaint about this book (and all the books in the series) is its length and verbosity.  A little editing would go a long way.

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451. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Terra McKinish

Author:   Stephen Chbosky

Genre:   Fiction, Young Adult

264 pages, published February 1999

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

The main character in this young adult fiction book is Charlie, a high school freshman with a very high IQ, a sometimes strained family relationship, a friendship with an extremely cool brother and sister and a dark secret.  Written in a series of letters to a “friend” from Charlie, we get a peek into his life and challenges.

Quotes 

“We accept the love we think we deserve.” 

 

“So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.”

 

“Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”

 

“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”

 

“I would die for you. But I won’t live for you.”

 

“There’s nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.”

 

“I am very interested and fascinated how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other.”

 

“It’s just that I don’t want to be somebody’s crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don’t want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it too.”

 

My Take

A good, enjoyable read, but I had a tough time relating.  Probably better suited for the teenage set.

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450. The Institute

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:

Author:   Stephen King

Genre:   Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy

561 pages, published September 10, 2019

Reading Format:  Audio Book on Overdrive

Summary

In the middle of the night, twelve year old Luke Ellis is kidnapped from his house in suburban Minneapolis and his parents are murdered.  Luke wakes up in a bizarre facility known as The Institute which imprisons kids like him with special powers including telepathy and telekinesis.  Luke’s mission is to escape from The Institute.

Quotes 

“Great events turn on small hinges.”

 

“He wanted to tell Luke that he loved him. But there were no words, and maybe no need of them. Or telepathy. Sometimes a hug was telepathy.”

 

“It came to him, with the force of a revelation, that you had to have been imprisoned to fully understand what freedom was.”

 

“It was so simple, but it was a revelation: what you did for yourself was what gave you the power.”

 

“There was an abyss. And books contained magical incantations to raise what was hidden there, all the great mysteries.”

 

“It came to him (and with the force of a revelation) that life was basically one long SAT test, and instead of four or five choices, you got dozens.”

 

“Seventy years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated by atomic bombs, the world is still here even though many nations have atomic weapons, even though primitive human emotions still hold sway over rational thought and superstition masquerading as religion still guides the course of human politics.”

 

My Take

Another quick-moving, compelling read by Stephen King.  Not his best work, but very enjoyable nonetheless.  Perfect escapism for a vacation.

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449. In Six Days: An Eco-Terrorism Fable

Rating:  ☆☆☆

Recommended by:  Mike Mendelsohn

Author:   Mike Mendelsohn

Genre:   Fiction, Thriller

289 pages, published 2020

Reading Format:  e-Book

Summary

In Six Days:  An Eco-Terrorism Fable is a thriller that follows a two eco-terrorists who are destroying ecological harmful sites throughout the U.S. in an escalating fashion.  It also follows a washed up, widower with a free spirited daughter who has made a small fortune trading bitcoin and a cabal of Republican congressmen who have blood on their hands.

Quotes 

I read this book as part of a book group of which the author, a first time fiction writer, is a member.  I commend him actually writing a book, something that is very hard to do.  As a conservative, I am not the target audience for this book.  I found the portrayal of the “evil” Republican congressmen to be one-dimensional and clichéd.   I imagine that those with a more left-wing persuasion might enjoy this book more than I did.

 

My Take

I read this book as part of a book group of which the author, a first time fiction writer, is a member.  I commend him actually writing a book, something that is very hard to do.  As a conservative, I am not the target audience for this book.  I found the portrayal of the “evil” Republican congressmen to be one-dimensional and clichéd.   I imagine that those with a more left-wing persuasion might enjoy this book more than I did.

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448. In the Unlikely Event

Rating:  ☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:  Judy Blume

Genre:   Fiction, Historical Fiction

402 pages, published June 2, 2015

Reading Format:  Audio Book on Overdrive

Summary

In the Unlikely Event takes place in Elizabeth, New Jersey during the early 1950’s when two airplanes crash, killing most of the passengers and explores the impact on the community and several of the residents.  It is also a time capsule, capturing a slice of America during that innocent time.

Quotes 

“Life is a series of unlikely events, isn’t it? Hers certainly is. One unlikely event after another, adding up to a rich, complicated whole. And who knows what’s still to come?”

 

“Anything could go wrong any day of the week. What’s the point of worrying in advance?” “How do you stop yourself from worrying?” “I think of all the good things in my life.” “What about the bad things?” “There’s no room for them inside my head. Not anymore. Now I say live and let live, and I kick those other thoughts away. You can do that, too.”

 

“When Miri asked if she believed in God, what was she supposed to say? ‘Of course I believe in God,’ she’d told her.  ‘But how could God let such a terrible thing happen?’ ‘It’s not God’s job to decide what happens,’ she’d said. ‘It’s his job to help you through it.”

 

“Not that memories were enough—they didn’t keep you warm on a cold winter’s night. They couldn’t hold you when you were frightened or sad. But they were better than nothing.”

 

My Take

I liked, but did not love, In the Unlikely Event.  As a tween and teenager, I read all of Judy Blume’s books and have fond memories of them.  I think she is a terrific young adult writer, able to really connect with her audience.  This book was enjoyable to read, but also pretty forgettable.  Blume does, however, do a pretty good job of capturing the early 1950’s era.

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