The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
323 pages

What’s it about?
This is an old fashioned thriller.  Rachel sees something from the train that she cannot get out of her mind.  She is an alcoholic and an unreliable witness, but this does not stop her from getting involved in a very dangerous situation. 

What did it make me think about?
 Hmmmmm.  This book was like a good B movie.  It moved along at a good pace but it just lacked that special something that makes it great.

Should I read it?
It is quick and you want to turn the pages but most of the time I was exasperated with Rachel.   In fact most of the characters are flawed to the point of being unlikable.  This book did not live up to the hype for me.

Quote-
"I can see that Cathy's bedroom door is open.  I peer into her room.  Her bed is made.  It's possible  she has already got up and made it, but I don't think she stayed here last night, which is a source of some relief.  If she isn't here, she didn't see or hear me come in last night, which means she doesn't know how bad I was.  This shouldn't matter, but it does: the sense of shame I feel about an incident is proportionate not just to the gravity of the situation, but also to the number of people who witnessed it."

Question- 

What did you think about the end of the book?

6 stars

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
588 pages


What’s it about?
This novel is a love story, an immigrant’s story and a story of race in America.

What did it make me think about?
 This is a book I wanted to love. It started off so promising for me, and parts of the novel were amazing.  I found the main character smart, interesting, insightful and sometimes just harsh and hard to understand.

Should I read it?
 I found the authors' commentaries on race in America thought provoking.  Her observations on being a new immigrant to America were also interesting.   Her ability to stand back and observe, and then write social commentary makes this novel worth reading.  However be warned-  the second half of the book got tedious for me.

Quote-
 “There was a manic optimism that he noticed in many of the people who had moved back from America in the past few years, a head-bobbing, ever-smiling, over-enthusiastic kind of manic optimism that bored him, because it was like a cartoon, without texture or depth.  He hoped she would not have become like that.  “

If you like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyimi
 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri 

7 stars

 The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
624 pages

What’s it about?
This novel centers around a fifteen year old English girl named Holly Sykes.  Holly is madly in love for the first time, but things do not work out as planned and soon Holly is running away from home with a broken heart.  The next 600 pages loosely follow Holly over the years.  The book manages to combine time travel, psychic abilities and relationships into one unusual but compelling novel.

What did it make me think about?
David Mitchell is an incredibly talented writer. I am going to have to tackle " Cloud Atlas", sooner rather than later. 

Should I read it?
 I thoroughly enjoyed this sprawling, weird, brilliant book but patience is a virtue when reading this one.

Quote-
 "I think about pinball, and how being a kid is like being shot up the firing line and there's no veering left or right; you're just sort of propelled.  But once you clear the top, like when you're sixteen,seventeen, or eighteen, suddenly there's a thousand different paths you can take, some amazing, others not.  Tiny little differences in angle and speed'll totally alter what happens to you later, so a fraction of an inch to the right, and the ball'll just hit a pinger and a dinger and fly down between your flippers, no messing, a waste of 10p.  But a fraction to the left and it's action in the play zone, bumpers and kickers, ramps and slingshots and fame on a high score table.  My problem is I don't know what I want, apart from a bit of money to buy food later on today.  Until yesterday all I wanted was Vinny, but I won't make that mistake again.  Like a shiny silver pinball whizzing out of the firing lane, I've not got the faintest bloody clue where I'm going or what'll happen next."

If you liked this try-
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrammage by Haruki Murakami
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

8 1/2 stars