Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb

I love this book! I think this was the third time I've read it, and it still makes me laugh out loud.

I mostly love Wally Lamb's writing (just don't get me started on We Are Water). This one, however, is my favourite. It is a light and fun read, one I love reading at Christmas.

This is the story of Felix Funicello (you can also read about him in I'll Take You There) a 10-year old boy growing up in small-town Connecticut whose family has three claims to fame:

• his mother is about to appear on TV nationally on the Pillsbury Bake-Off
• he will be on TV locally on a kids' TV show
• his cousin is the famous Annette Funicello

As if these things weren't exciting enough, his teacher has a breakdown and the substitute teacher has exciting plans for their Catholic School Christmas pageant. 

The characters are hilarious and as the mother of a 10-year old boy, I feel like he nails Felix's voice perfectly. I find Felix's perspective to be hilarious, wanting to be more grown up than he is but not quite understanding all that is going on around him.

You can read this one in a few hours (I know everyone has a few spare hours at this time of year). If you are travelling and need a book to take with you, I highly recommend this one. There are some very funny moments and little lines that just crack me up. I've bought it as a gift for several people and it was enjoyed as my book club selection a few years ago. 

If you like A Christmas Story I think you'll like this book. 

Cometh the Hour and This Was a Man by Jeffrey Archer

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy adjusting to my new job and haven't had a lot of time for reading. Over the last couple of months I have been wrapping up the Clifton Chronicles series by Jeffrey Archer. The books were very repetitive, so I decided to combine them into one post.

I've been a Jeffrey Archer fan for over 20 years. When I need a fun, quick page-turner Jeffrey Archer is my go-to guy. So when I heard about the Clifton Chronicles, I couldn't wait to try it. It started out strong but the last few books could probably have been combined into one.

There are seven books in the series but I think the story could have been told just as well in 4.

The series covers the life of Harry Arthur Clifton and his life in Bristol, England. We read about his difficult childhood and his years at school. We are there as he falls in love with Emma Barrington and see the obstacles they face on their path to a life together. The following books follow them through the second world war and life afterwards. Harry becomes a world famous writer while Emma becomes the first woman to chair a public company in the UK.

Emma's brother Giles Barrington is Harry's best friend and a Member of Parliament. All of their lives intertwine over the course of the seven books. Because of their prominence in society, they have some enemies along the way who make things interesting.

The last two books seemed like carbon copies of each other. There were business mergers, elections won and lost, false accusations and family drama. None of it was overly exciting, but as I had invested so much time in the series I wanted to see it through to the end.

I was particularly disappointed how some of the loose threads from the earlier books were tied up in a couple of sentences at the end of book seven. Questions that haven't been answered for decades were barely given a mention. I feel like some of them could have been a bit more dramatic. One character just disappeared for the final third of the final book and didn't really get any closure.

On the whole, it was a fun series to read, but it should have been shorter. If you're a fan of Jeffrey Archer, have a look. I'd love to know what you think.

The Little Old Lady Strikes Again by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

A few years ago I read and loved The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules and absolutely loved it, so I when I heard there was a sequel I wanted to check it out.

The back of the book talks about how the League of Pensioners have relocated to Las Vegas and are planning on pulling off a heist in a big Vegas casino. Can they pull it off? It sounded fun and exciting. Well, by page 40 you know whether or not they had pulled it off and they had left Vegas, never to return again. Their time in Vegas wasn't the plot of the book, it was the introduction. I just found it strange that the description on the back of the book barely had anything to do with the plot itself.

It has taken me nearly two months to get through the rest of the book. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a compelling read. It was very similar to the first book, with the League of Pensioners plotting their crimes, attempting them and encountering funny little mishaps along the way. I just felt like I had read it already and wasn't all that interested in picking it up each day.

There is a third book in the series, and I won't be reading that. It sounds like more of the same again and I feel the story has already been told.

I really need to get over my thing of always finishing a book I start. My time could probably have been better spent than finishing this book. Oh well, it is done now!

I'd say that if you liked the first book, leave well enough alone and skip this one.

The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad

This book is definitely a departure from my normal style, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

This is the story of Frank Rath, a private investigator in Vermont who becomes involved in investigating the disappearance of a young woman from his small town. As the search deepens, other women are found to be missing in their area. Is there a connection? Who has these women?

At the same time, Frank is a single father, raising the niece he adopted after her parents were brutally murdered in their home. Rachel is now grown and off to college, and Frank is really missing her.

I nearly put this book down after the first chapter, which was really creepy. It didn't continue that way, so I'm glad I kept going.

I didn't really love the characters in this book. Frank seems bent on self destruction, Grout, the lead detective also seems miserable, and we don't learn enough about Sonja, the other detective on the case. I would also like to have gotten to know Rachel better.

However, what bothered me most about this book is that it contained several grammatical and sentence structure errors. It felt like it hadn't been edited. For example, a character was "slapped across face" instead of "across the face".  At the end of the book, the initial victim's last name was changed from Wilks to Wilkins. That sort of thing drives me crazy. And the author had this weird way of using the word but as a complete sentence continually, no matter which character was speaking.

“She sort of seems familiar. But. In that way that reminds you of someone from TV or a dream.”

“But. State borders aren’t going to stop a sicko,” Sonja said.

But. How did one person, or even two people, choose these girls. And why?

“Of course I can read.” Gale sighed. “But. Her handwriting is a first grader’s. I’ll give it my best.”

Argh! 

Another thing that bothered me is that all Christians are portrayed as being zealots who protest outside abortion clinics. It paints a lot of people with a broad brush and I don't like that. 

If you can get past those things then the story is entertaining and compelling. But if those sorts of things bother you, then skip this one.

Also, the story ends on a cliffhanger, trying to force you to read the next book. I'm not sure if I will. I hope it has a better editor.

*** Thanks to Goodreads reviewer Christie for isolating these quotes for me so I didn't have to do it.

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty

This is another one on loan from Tracy, my schoolyard mom friend. This was a fun, light read, perfect for a vacation.

The book begins with several different voices telling about the night they saw a set of triplets celebrating their birthdays together in a restaurant. Everything seems fine until the triplets start fighting and one sister ends up throwing a fondue fork which lands right in her pregnant sister's belly...

We then go back in time a year and get to know Lyn, Catriona and Gemma, the triplets in question. Lyn is a successful business owner trying to juggle the demands of work and family, Cat has just discovered her husband's affair, and Gemma has been trying to find herself after the tragic death of her fiancé several years earlier. We also get to know Maxine and Frank, their divorced parents, as well as various friends and partners who are all part of the triplets' lives.

Mixed in with the story are accounts from people who have seen the triplets in action over the course of their lives.

All of this works together to bring us back to the fateful night in the restaurant when they are celebrating their birthdays. Who is pregnant, who threw the fork, and how they got there all get answered along the way.

I have never read anything by this author before, but I have heard great things about her and would definitely like to read more. This was a perfect summer read, quick and fun, without a lot to think about. If you are looking for something to take to the beach or a cottage, this could be the perfect book for you.

What She Knew by Gilly MacMillan

Another book-loving Mom from the schoolyard loaned me this one and it was a great, fun summer read! Thanks, Tracy!

Rachel Jenner takes her 8-year old son for a walk in the woods, like she does most Sunday afternoons. She sends Ben on ahead to run to the tire swing, but when she gets to the swing, Ben isn't there. She calls and searches but there is no trace of him. Others join in the search, with no success. Ben is gone. The police are called and the worst time of Rachel's life has begun.

As the search begins for Ben, everyone is called into question. Can anyone be trusted?

As the story unfolds, we get to know more about the different characters, as we hear the story from the perspectives of Rachel, the detective in charge of Ben's case, and also from transcripts of his sessions with a therapist to help him deal with the trauma of the case. The story is filled with twists and turns and is a fun page-turner.

If you are looking for a fun summer read, you'll enjoy this. It is fast-paced and exciting and a fun read.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

Not surprisingly, I follow a lot of "bookish" sites on Facebook. A few months ago one of them was promoting this book, saying it was for people who liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I absolutely loved both of those books, so I figured this would be a book I would want to read. It certainly was.

WWII continues to be a popular setting for novels, and I've noticed a new trend within that WWII trend. This is the second book I've read in the last few months about the strength and resilience of the women left behind while the men had all gone off to war. In a time when women were often still thought to be weaker, and less than their husbands, these women showed what they were made of, and kept things running at home.

Set in Chilbury, England in the spring and summer of 1940, it is an epistolary novel, told from the letters and journals of several ladies (and occasionally a man) from the town. The women are told that with the men gone, their choir will need to be disbanded. However, they want to continue singing so they form a ladies-only choir under the leadership of Prim, a woman fairly new to the town. We read the perspectives of women with sons at the front, young ladies with dreams of love, and a midwife forced into a morally challenging situation. They are amazing women who don't always know their inner strength, but as they face each challenging situation, they rise to to occasion and find what they need to carry on.

Through it all, they gain strength from each other and from singing together in a choir. As they join together in that way, they learn to rely on each other in ways they wouldn't have considered in peace time. The choir brings them together and gives meaning to their lives in a time when that meaning was hard to find.

It's a lovely book. There are sad times, there are frustrating times, there are heartbreaking times. But the women of Chilbury face them all together. It is a great summer read, I highly recommend it.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Sometimes you finish a book and you have to shake your head and think to yourself, "What on earth just happened???" This is one such book.

In the beginning it seems like a simple story about a couple heading out on a road trip for the narrator to meet her boyfriend's parents. They are still fairly new in the relationship and she isn't sure if she wants to continue on or break up. Maybe meeting his parents isn't the best idea. Plus, she's been getting these bizarre phone calls that are starting to scare her. She doesn't know if she should tell her boyfriend, or the police and the calls are becoming more frequent.

Then it starts getting strange. Strange. Super, super strange. I can't say a lot more without spoiling it, but the last quarter of the book takes you on a lot of twists and turns.

I read most of the book in one day, so it is a quick read. I've read a lot of other reviews where people said they finished it and then went back to the beginning and read it again to try to make sense of it all. It is a suspenseful, fun read and your mind will be reeling when you are done. If you are looking for something out of the ordinary, then give this a quick read. It certainly won't be for everyone, but I think you'll have some fun with it. Then talk to me about it, so I can figure things out!

The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley

I wish I liked this book more than I did. The concept is amazing, but I found the writing style to be a bit too dry, and pretty much just a prime example of why I have traditionally avoided non-fiction books.

This was our book club selection for our June meeting and it is the only time I can remember when no one in the group had finished the book. Shocking!

Ann Walmsley tells the story of how she joined her friend, Carol Finlay, who held book club meetings in the Collins Bay Prison near Kingston, Ontario. Having personally been the victim of a violent mugging while living in London, England, Ann found it difficult to walk into the prison and get to know the inmates on a personal level. However, she faced her fears and her life changed a result.

The men they encountered in the prison were intelligent, insightful and loved reading. They loved discussing the books given to them each month and looked forward to their meetings as more than just a way to escape prison life for a short time. Some of the men even began a book club at their new minimum security prison when they were reassigned there.

Ann encouraged the men to journal their thoughts about the books they were reading which often turned up even more insightful thoughts which hadn't been discussed in their meetings. They read a great variety of books, and my "To Be Read" list grew as I worked my way through this book.

So, all in all, the concept was exciting and interesting. However, the writing style was incredibly dry and it became too much of an account of what happened, instead of a compelling look inside the book clubs.

If you are interested in reading more about the book clubs meeting in prisons, by all means, pick it up. You will enjoy it, it just won't be the most exciting book you've ever read. You can also check out the website for Book Clubs for Inmates.

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner

I'm back in the thriller/suspense genre with this recommendation from another Mom at Wesley's school (Thanks Tracy, if you're reading this, I'm looking forward to the others too).

This is the 7th in a series of books about a married pair of criminal profilers (Quincy and Rainie), but this is the only one I have read and I don't feel like I was missing anything at all. It can definitely stand alone.

Telly Ray and Sharlah Nash were born into a difficult home. Their parents were addicts, their father was abusive and their mother wasn't strong enough to stop him. Telly takes good care of Sharlah until the night he sees his father attack their mother with a knife. Then, Telly loses control and attacks his parents with a baseball bat, killing them both (this happens in the first chapter, it's not a spoiler!). Following this, the children are separated in foster care and each live very difficult lives trying to overcome the trauma of that night. Telly moves from home to home while Sharlah is in the process of being adopted by Quincy and Rainie, the criminal profilers.

Fast foward 9 years when a violent gunman is on the loose in their small Oregon town. Telly's current foster parents are dead, along with two victims in a nearby gas station. Telly is seen shooting out the camera of the gas station security cameras and is on the run. Quincy and Rainie have to begin searching for their daughter's long lost brother, while trying to keep her safe at the same time. But is the case as cut and dried as it seems?

What follows is an exciting mystery with lots of twists and turns. There are lots of great characters who work together to solve the mystery. Flashbacks are given to help tell the backstory and the past and present are really well woven together.

I've never read anything by this author before but I definitely would again. This would be a great summer read, take it along with you on your vacation!

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Judy Blume is still writing books! I had no idea until this was announced as my book club selection for March/April. She is now 79 years old and seemingly still going strong. This book is geared to adults, unlike the titles we all read as kids (Superfudge, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and so on). I really had no idea what to expect of a Judy Blume book geared to adults, so I was eager to give it a try.

This is the story of the people living in Elizabeth, New Jersey (Blume's hometown) in the winter of 1951-1952. Based on real events, it tells the story of how the town reacted when three planes crashed in their small town over the course of 58 days. Between the questions of why this kept happening, the loss of friends and family, and the fear of when it was going to happen again, the people of the town didn't know how to respond to these tragedies.

While all this is going on Miri Ammerman, Natalie Osner, Mason McKittrick and their friends are just trying to be teenagers living their lives. They fall in and out of love, struggle with eating disorders, and struggle with their parents. Rumours abound, no answers are coming and the residents of Elizabeth struggle to find their normal routines amid the heartbreak and fear surrounding them.

It seems impossible that three planes would crash in the same area in such a short time span, but it did happen. All three crashes were near schools, which made school children at the time question whether there was some sort of conspiracy at work. However, it just seems like three horrible separate tragedies that happened in a short time frame.

The story is told in alternating voices, lots of them, which can make it hard to follow. In the print copy (I read it digitally) there is a list of characters at the beginning which could really help to keep the numerous characters straight. The characters, for the most part, are quite likeable and you can easily identify with them. They face difficult situations and see how that can draw people together, or pull them apart.

It's probably a book I wouldn't have read if it hadn't been chosen by my book club, but I'm glad I read it. Several members of our group couldn't get into it and didn't finish it, so I'd like to know if anyone else read it too and how you felt about it.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

I like books about journeys. I'm not sure exactly why, but when someone sets out on some sort of personal journey, I'm in. I also like quirky books that feature unique characters. So books like The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, and Around the World in 80 Days are some of my favourites. In my experience, a good book about a personal journey usually features some amazing characters. Lillian Boxfish is one such character.

Rob recently discovered this book at Indigo and thought it would be right up my alley. Once again, he was right.

85-year old Lillian Boxfish (but she'll tell you she's only 84) is preparing to ring out 1984 and ring in 1985, she will be doing this, as she usually does, alone. Her plan is to leave her apartment in the Murray Hill district of New York City and walk to her traditional New Year's Eve restaurant, then return home and be in bed long before the ball drops in Times Square. However, she eats a few too many Oreos before heading out and when she arrives at the restaurant she just isn't hungry. So she leaves and keeps on walking. Her destination often changes throughout the night, but the walking remains.

Along the way she encounters many interesting situations and characters. And as she walks she remembers her life to this point, the successes, the failures, and the secrets. We learn that she was at one time the highest paid woman in advertising in the world, working for her beloved W.H. Macy's. She was a woman way ahead of her time, living alone in New York City, fighting to receive the same pay as men doing the same job, and asserting her independence when all the other women around her seemed to want nothing more than to find a husband.

New York City is in her blood and she knows and loves it well. As she walks the streets on this New Year's Eve, you see the city through her eyes, and meet many of its great people.

It is not a book of high excitement, but it is a great story, with great characters. To say it moves a little slowly is an understatement, but I like that kind of a story once in a while. The whole book takes place over the course of one night, with flashbacks from her earlier life mixed in to bring depth to the story.

I found it interesting to read that Lillian Boxfish was loosely based on Margaret Fishback, who was the highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the world in the 1930's. Many liberties are taken with Margaret's story, but some of the facts remain.

This was a big hit for me, and if you like character-driven stories then you'll probably like it too. If you like a lot of action and a quick moving story then this probably isn't the book for you.

The BFG by Roald Dahl

This book came to me, highly recommended by Wesley. A passionate reader, Wes loves his weekly trips to the school library and that is where he had found this book last week. He had recently watched the movie and wanted to read the book to compare the two. He was horrified to hear that I had never read it, and I insisted that I fix that before it had to be returned to the library. So fix it, I did.

Somehow, the only Dahl books I had read to this point were the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books. I loved those, so I'm not sure why I'd never read any of his other works.

The BFG tells the story of Sophie, a young orphan living in England who spies a giant walking through her town one night. He sees her watching him, so to protect himself and all the other giants, he takes her with him to his home. He can't have her telling anyone else about the existence of giants.

As they get to know each other, Sophie discovers that the BFG is the only friendly giant in existence. The others eat humans, and travel to human countries every day to snatch unsuspecting people from their beds. Sophie and the BFG need to come up with a plan to stop those horrible giants. But how can the two of them save the world?

This is a really fun read, and a great story about doing the right thing, even when the odds seem stacked against you. The giant language is a bit annoying to read sometimes, but still fun and in keeping with what you would expect from Dahl.

As an interesting side note, we have read that JK Rowling took words from movies and literature when she was naming characters and places in her Harry Potter books. I found both the words "squib" and "muggle" in this book. I wonder...

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I feel like this is a book that will haunt me for a while. This was our book club selection for February and I loved it.

I have read a LOT of books about World War II and it makes you wonder how many stories are left to be told. But this one took a different approach and taught me some things I had never learned in a history class.

Vianne and Isabelle are French sisters who have led a difficult life. Their mother died when they were quite young, and their father, damaged from his time in WWI isn't able to care for them. They are sent from their life in Paris to live at a family home in the country. Vianne falls in love and marries quite young and Isabelle ends up bouncing around from school to school, a problem student who never seems to be able to find her place in life.

When WWII erupts, Vianne's husband leaves to fight, leaving her at home with their young daughter, Sophie. Isabelle gets kicked out of yet another school so her father sends her to live with Vianne to help during her husband's absence. Isabelle isn't satisfied with this and quickly joins a resistance group, trying to liberate France from Nazi occupation. She develops a plan that will help downed Allied airmen who have landed in France to escape over the Pyrenees to Spain where they can return home to take up the fight once again. She becomes known as the Nightingale and makes nearly 30 of these treks over the mountains to lead men to safety.

In the meantime, Vianne is left in the family home, with German soldiers billeting in her home against her will. Starving, cold, and alone, Vianne is forced to make some difficult decisions to protect her home and her family.

It is a beautiful story of how these women each found their strength in completely different ways. One jumped into dangerous decisions too quickly, the other acted out of a desperate desire to keep her loved ones safe.

I had never heard anything about downed airmen escaping over the mountains to safety. I've seen The Sound of Music, but I have read that the real story is a lot less exciting than portrayed in the movie and that there wasn't actually an escape over the mountains. But these escapes happened, lots of them. You can read a bit more about that here.

It is a beautiful book, full of pain, heartbreak and life-altering decisions. It is beautifully written and I highly recommend it.

The Girls by Emma Cline

Rob gave me this book for Christmas, and before I received it I hadn't heard a thing about it. I had somehow missed it on all the book blogs and sites I regularly follow. It had been recommended by Zoe Whittall, who wrote the other book he gave me for Christmas so he thought it would be a fun pairing. I like reading  books knowing absolutely nothing about the plot, so I didn't look up any information about the book before I started reading it. I thought it was going to be a book about girls understanding who they are and finding their place in the world. I didn't realize that would be happening in the context of the Charles Manson story.

This is the story of Evie Boyd, a 14-year old girl growing up in California in the summer of 1969. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mom, who is trying to rediscover herself as she re-enters the dating world. Evie also fights with her childhood best friend. Without her mom or her best friend, Evie finds herself drawn to a group of girls she sees in the park. She ends up joining these girls (led by the beautiful Suzanne) to a ranch where they all live together. The ranch is led by Russell, the charismatic leader. Evie gets caught up in life on the ranch, slowly leaving her life at home behind her. Throughout the book we also hear from Evie as a grown woman, looking back at her time on the ranch, her fascination with Suzanne and her desire to have been part of that group.

The book uses the story of Charles Manson and fictionalizes it, looking at it through the eyes of Evie. What made these people do what they did? Why didn't Evie join them? What is in her (or in all of us) to keep that from happening? What was missing in Suzanne and the others that caused them to kill innocent people?

The book was deeply disturbing in parts, but still quite fascinating. It was an interesting look into this horrifying story. I probably wouldn't have read it if I had known ahead of time that it was about Charles Manson, but in the end I'm glad I did read it.

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall

Finally! A book that I read for fun, not for my book club. Rob gave me this one for Christmas, and a friend had previously recommended it, so I was eager to give it a read. I am going to have problems reviewing it, because I really enjoyed it up until the last 10 pages or so. However, I found the ending really unsatisfying, so it kind of ruined everything else for me. I will try to do my review without any sort of spoilers, but I apologize if I inadvertently give something away.

George Woodbury is a hero in Avalon Hills. He once stopped a school shooter from his attempt at attacking the private school where George was a teacher. The shooter had his gun out and George's daughter, Sadie, was the only student in the hallway at the time. George was in the right place at the right time and attacked the shooter, preventing a tragedy. After this, he is voted Teacher of the Year every year and is well-loved by everyone.
So everyone is surprised when George is suddenly arrested in his home, accused of the attempted rape of a student and inappropriate behaviour with other students. Can it be true?

George himself is a minor character, the rest of the story is told through the eyes of his daughter, Sadie and his wife, Joan and how they react to their new situation. It is a well written story, looking at rape culture, relationships, and how a family can survive this kind of trauma. Secrets are revealed, old hurts are brought back to the surface, and questions are raised about what the characters thought they knew.

All in all, a pretty good read, but a very frustrating ending!

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Suspenseful thrillers seem to be the big trend in modern literature. It started around the time Gone Girl was released a few years ago, and seems to be continually on the rise with each passing month. A trip to Indigo will have countless suspenseful reads on display, ready to grab your attention. I've tried a few of them, and haven't been all that thrilled, so I was a little leery when this was chosen as our book club selection for January. But I have to say, of all that I've read in this style in recent years, this one has been my favourite so far.

This is the story of Anne and Marco Conti. They are the parents of 6-month old Cora and are invited to a dinner party at their next door neighbour's house. The hostess has made it clear that their crying baby isn't welcome in her home, so when the babysitter cancels at the last minute Anne and Marco don't know what to do. Because they live in adjoining townhouses, they decide it would be ok to leave the baby at home, while they take the baby monitor with them and take turns checking on her every half hour. Everything goes along fine, until they return home after 1:00 AM to find the baby's crib empty. The rest of the book is the search for Cora and the unravelling of family secrets, which helps to solve the mystery.

It was a fast, exciting read, I managed to read it over the course of three days, which is pretty quick for me. If you are looking for a light, entertaining read, this would be a good place to start.