Open City by Teju Cole
259 pages

What’s it about?
The narrator of this story walks the streets of New York (and a short stay in Brussels) lamenting about what he sees and what he is reminded of in that moment. 

What did I think?
Teju Cole is a beautiful writer.  To appreciate this book, I had to slow down and just enjoy his writing style and ponder what he was trying to say.

Should you read it?
Hmmm…   It is beautiful writing, but if you like a plot then avoid this book at all costs.   However, it is a beautifully written novel with lots of stories that make you think.

Quote-
“Perhaps this is what we mean by sanity: That, whatever our self-admitted eccentricities might be, we play, and only play, the hero, and in the swirl of other people’s stories, insofar as those stories concern us al all, we are never less than heroic. “

Question--
Did you like the narrator when you were done reading?

If you like this try-
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 

7 1/2 stars

The Children’s Crusade by Ann Packer
432 pages


Disclaimer- I chose not to even finish this book.

What’s it about?
This book follows the Blair family- Bill, Penny and four children as they grow up in California.  The story flips from the past to the present to examine the four children and how they became the adults they are today.

What did I think?
I made it to page 200 and very uncharacteristically decided to be done with this one.

Should you read it?
I just found the Blair family boring and decide if after 200 pages I still did not care about the characters then I might as well give up.

Quote-
“ ‘We never get over it,’ she said to me during one of our first sessions together.  ‘What’s that?’  I said, and she said, ‘Having started out as children’. "

2 stars-

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
720 pages

What’s it about?
Initially (the first 200 pages or so) I would have said that this book was about four college roommates and how the relationships among them evolve and change over time.  Part way through the novel I realized that this story really centered on one main character, Jude, and how the abuse in his childhood forever changed him.

What did I think?
I hear the saying “you are the stories you tell yourself” all the time.  This book so portrays that truth.   Do those who suffer truly horrific traumas in childhood ever really get past them?  Do they have the ability to change the stories they tell themselves?  Maybe some do, but this is a novel about the struggle one such person faces.   This novel was beautiful, wise and affirming and at the same time it was brutal, dark and at times hard to read. 

Should you read it?
I would highly recommend this book, but not to everyone.  It is sad and dark but an incredible character driven novel with lots of pearls of wisdom.  If you are looking for a quick light read skip this one.  If you can handle a novel with a dark side, then this one should not be missed!

Quote-
“I have never been one of those people- I know you aren’t either, who feels that the love one has for a child is somehow a superior love, one more meaningful, more significant, and grander than any other.  I didn’t feel that before Jacob, and I didn’t feel that after.  But it is a singular love, because it is a love whose foundation is not physical attraction, or pleasure, or intellect, but fear.  You have never known fear until you have a child, and maybe that is what tricks us into thinking that it is more magnificent, because the fear is more magnificent.  Every day your first thought is not “I love him” but “How is he?”  The world overnight rearranges itself into an obstacle course of terrors.   I would hold him in my arms and wait to cross the street and would think how absurd it was that my child, that any child, could expect to survive this life.“

Question--
Should Jude be expected to change the story he tells himself?  Is it a realistic hope?
 
If you like this try-
A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
We The Animals by Justin Torres
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
 
9 stars

The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
454 pages


What’s it about?
This book simultaneously tells of two crimes that take place in Oklahoma City in the summer of 1986.  Six people are brutally murdered during an armed robbery at a movie theatre.  That same summer a teenage girl goes missing at the fair and is never found.  Twenty-five years later the survivors of these crimes are still struggling to make sense of it all.

What did I think?
It's a good one.   Both crimes are not fully understood, so we are swept up in not only two mysteries, but also in the lives of the survivors.

Should you read it?
I would recommend this one!  Another good beach read.

Quote-
“Wyatt didn’t think the cop was dumb.  The cop, like everyone, was just keeping his finger on the pulse of his own self-interest.  He had real crimes to solve, real criminals to catch, so he saw the evidence in front of him the way he wanted to see it.  Humans, by nature, did this all the time.  They wanted something, so they found reasons to support that desire.  And then they convinced themselves that the reasons came first, that the reasons led to the desire and not the other way around. “

Question-
Which storyline was your favorite?

If you like this try-

The Last Child by John Hart
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
The Round House by Louise Erdich
 

7 ½ stars

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
438 pages

What’s it about?
This is an epic novel that showcases the important role that women played in World War II.  The novel takes place in France and centers around two sisters and the different paths they choose during the conflict.   This story is told in retrospect and that perspective adds another layer to the novel.

What did I think?
This was just a great read.  Fully drawn characters and France in 1939 is a setting fraught with so much drama.   What we choose to share about our younger selves as we age was also interesting facet of the book.

Should you read it?
It is a good story with interesting characters.  It would be a great book to read on vacation, as it is easy to pick up and put down again.

Quote-
“I can’t help smiling at that.  He is such an American, this son of mine.  He thinks one’s life can be distilled to a narrative that has a beginning and an end.  He knows nothing about the kind of sacrifice that, once made, can never be fully forgotten or fully borne.  And how could he?  I have protected him from all of that.”

Question-
Which sister was the heroine of the novel?

8 stars

If you like this try-
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
The Book Thief by Markus  Zusak