Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

I love Deborah Harkness' The All Souls Trilogy. It begins with A Discovery of Witches and is one of my favorite series. It is well-written and textured and absorbing. I have read it and listened to the audio books multiple times. A companion to the trilogy, Time's Convert was released in the fall of 2018 and I was very happy to hear Harkness had continued the story of Diana and Matthew, and that she had focused more on Marcus' origins. Mostly surrounding the time of the American Revolution, we learn who Marcus was before he became a vampire and what his transformation and first decades of that life were like. Additionally, Harkness focuses on the "rebirth" process for the  newest member of the de Clermont clan in the present and how difficult it can be to leave one's old life behind.

I liked this book, but somehow it felt too much like a "companion", as if it were a lengthy volume of fan fiction written by someone who just wanted more of the story. Of course all her fans want more of the story, but I just didn't feel like this was written at the same level as her previous books. It wasn't bad, but the quality wasn't there. I hate to judge too harshly and I am certain that if she releases another book I will absolutely be reading it. I love her. I love these characters. I am a fan.

My favorite line of the book occurs during one of the early battles of the Revolution when a woman, Diana Bishop's ancestor Sarah Bishop, is caring for some of the fallen soldiers:

"It took me eighteen hours to bring that boy into the world, and no time at all for some idiot with a gun to steal him away.... War is such a waste of women's time."

What I've Seen- Little Women

I mentioned to someone a few weeks before the new Little Women was released in theaters that I was excited to see it. Their response: No, there have been too many. I don't want to see it. But the reviews I kept hearing were raving and the cast is fantastic and I really wanted to see it. So I did.

And it was fantastic!

Saoirse Ronan as Jo was perfection! Emma Watson as Meg was so sweet. Laura Dern was a surprisingly good Marmee and Meryl Streep surprises no one with her wonderfully cantankerous Aunt March. I wasn't previously familiar with Florence Pugh or Eliza Scanlen, the actors who play Amy and Beth, but they more than met the high expectations I had for the film portrayal of this classic novel. Told in alternating timelines, the story was a little difficult to follow for my twelve-year-old who hasn't yet read the book, but it wasn't impossible. I loved this movie and I was thrilled that it was so well done. I haven't read the book for nearly twenty years, but this makes me want to add it back on to my list.

Home of Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler

Julie Kibler's Home for Erring and Outcast Girls is set in Arlington, Texas, at the turn of the twentieth century. Women who were "ruined" by becoming pregnant out of wedlock or even having sex before marriage, whether by choice or not, were often cast out of their families and society at large. The Berachah Industrial Home for the Redemption of Erring Girls was a place of refuge for many of such young women. Kibler's book is a fictionalized account of life at the home and some of the women who passed through its doors.

Lizzie was a young mother who had been horribly treated by her family and left out in the cold, sick and addicted. When the home took her in, her biggest fear is that they would take her daughter from her, but that is not how Berachah worked. They acknowledged the importance of a child and mother staying together and helped Lizzie heal and begin her life again. Mattie was also a young mother who had been left behind with only promises from the man who fathered her child, a very sick little boy in need of medical treatment. That medical help was what brought Mattie to Berachah and to a new life and friends of her own.

In alternating chapters, we also meet Cate, a single woman in her late thirties who works in a research library at The University of Texas at Arlington which houses the records of Berachah. She becomes fixated upon the stories of these women who had no family or friends to care for them, but were able to survive with the help of the Home. Running from her own troubled past for nearly two decades, the stories of Lizzie, Mattie, and the other girls may finally help her let go.

A real place, the Home was open from 1903 to 1942 and housed approximately 3000 women, many with babies or small children. It is hard to imagine a society that leaves women with so few options, but the history shows it to have been painfully common. I thought this book was very good, even though there were parts that were very difficult to read. It frustrates me to think how terribly women were treated and how easily crimes against them were committed. I especially enjoyed Cate's story, though it had its frustrating and terrifying moments as well. I will say that I think this book could use a trigger warning for anyone who has a difficult time reading about sexual abuse, though the author did well not to overly describe those events.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate explores the true stories of thousands of children involved in the kidnapping and black market adoptions perpetrated by the Tennessee Children's Home Society under the direction of Georgia Tann. Wingate's book follows fictional siblings Rill, Fern, Lark, Camellia, and Gabion in 1939 as they are taken from their poor but loving family and placed in the Children's Home to await adoption. The book also follows Avery Stafford in the present day who is destined to follow in her father's Senatorial footsteps but has become obsessed with uncovering a mystery surrounding her ailing grandmother. When Avery discovers the matriarch of their important family may have ties to the scandal surrounding the Children's Home, she feels obligated to find the truth.

I half liked this book. I really enjoyed reading the parts where Avery is searching through family secrets and history, but the chapters with Rill and her siblings were just heartbreaking. The circumstances at the Home were dire and horrifying. These children were taken from loving families that were just too poor and powerless to do anything about it. The local hospitals, police, and judges were complicit in the scheme, being paid off either in cash or with adoptions of their own. Tann charged large amounts of money for the adoptions and then often went back to extort more from the families while threating to take back the children that they had grown to love. The children that weren't adoptable due to sickness or age or behavior were either left to die or murdered outright. It is estimated that 500 children died at the home. Tann died in 1950 before she could be held accountable for her crimes. Through volunteer agencies some families were able to be reunited over the years, but it is a tiny percentage of those affected.

While awful and tragic, this book is very well written and draws the reader in to understand these children's stories. I felt like this was hard to read, but the historical fiction was very good.

What I've Seen- A Discovery of Witches

When I read the news a couple of years ago that one of my favorite book series, The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, was being made into a television series I was absolutely thrilled. I thought that would be a better format than a film because it would allow more time to fit in all the wonderful details written by Harkness. I was even more excited when I read that Harkness was also involved with the production- surely she would be sure they didn't make a hash of it. And then I was disappointed when I saw that it would air on the Sundance channel, but then I found out my local library had the first season on DVD so I put my name on the reserve list and waited patiently.

While I waited, I pressed friends for their reviews of the show. They all gave raving reviews! This show was going to be amazing- everyone said so. Finally, I received the much anticipated alert in my email that said the DVD set was ready and waiting for me on the library hold shelf. I buckled in for a long binge session, started the first episode, and nearly cried with disappointment. Matthew Goode is wonderful as Matthew Clairmont and several of the other actors are very good as well, but Teresa Palmer is flat and unconvincing, Lindsay Duncan is far too old to play Ysabeau, and Alex Kingston just doesn't seem to be given enough time to show her talent. Actually, that is a complaint I have about a lot of the character development in this series- the camera seems to just glance off so many of the actors and the pacing is too rushed to get to know this large cast.

I was also extremely frustrated that a show with such brilliant source material could fall so short. The writing in the books is polished and beautiful and well-paced. The writing in the show is weak and rushed and the dialogue is frequently changed from what works very well in the books to stilted and cheesy in the show. In addition, the musical score appears to have been added in post as a way to prop up a show that was lacking in substance. The background music, rather than subtly adding to the atmosphere of the scene, is almost intrusive and distracting.

I am so relieved that I didn't spend any money on watching this show. It wasn't a complete failure, but it was very disappointing, especially considering that the author is involved in the production. I have hopes that maybe the second season will be better, but again I will wait until I can borrow it from the library. In the mean time, I highly recommend you listen to the audio versions of the books. Jennifer Ikeda is a fantastic narrator. 

2019- Year in Review

2019 was a great year for reading for me. I set a goal to finish 40 books and somehow made it to 52! Here is the list in the order I read them:

1. No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
3. Cress by Marissa Meyer
4. Fairest by Marissa Meyer
5. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
6. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
7. Winter by Marissa Meyer
8. The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
9. Believe Me by J.P. Delaney
10. Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg
11. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
12. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
13. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
14. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
15. Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor
16. I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
17. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
18. Educated by Tara Westover
19. The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen
20. You are a Badass Every Day by Jen Sincero
21. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
22. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
23. Blasphemy by Douglas Preston
24. The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go by Amy E. Reichert
25. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
26. Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
27. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert
28. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
29. How to Talk so Teens will Listen and Listen so Teens Will Talk by Adele Faber
30. Becoming by Michelle Obama
31. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
32. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
33. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
34. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
35. The F*ck It Diet by Caroline Dooner
36. Molly's Game by Molly Bloom
37. It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke
38. Impostors by Scott Westerfeld
39. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
40. Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky
41. The Price of Time by Tim Tigner
42. The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
43. The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness by Maddie Dawson
44. The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams
45. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
46. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
47. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
48. How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
49. Watching You by Lisa Jewell
50. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
51. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
52. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Every year when I write this "In Review" post I am reminded why I keep this blog. It began as a way to keep up with and remember what I had read. If it also provides a list of suggestions for you, SmartGirl, then all the better. As I write these all in one place, I frequently say to myself, "Oh! I had forgotten that one!" or "Oh! That was this year? It seems longer ago than that." and often "Awww...I loved that one!"

I read a lot of really good books this year and it is always hard to pick a favorite, but I think the best book I read in 2019 was This Is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Also in the sure-to-be-oft-recommended category:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Educated by Tara Westover
and I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

There are so many good books out there to read and I hope this list helps you add to your TBR list.
Happy reading and Happy New Year!

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

I really enjoyed How to Walk Away by Katherine Center and her Things You Save in a Fire was just as wondeful. Cassie is the youngest person, and the first woman, to receive a prestigious award with her Austin Fire Department. She has the second highest score of any firefighter on an important test necessary for promotion and advancement in the department. She is well-respected in her fire house and her crew is her family. She loves her job. When she is forced to move away and leave it all behind to join a new department, it is worse than starting from square one. Her new department is filled with men who think women have absolutely no place in a fire house. Add to that stress her ailing, estranged mother and the tug on her heart of unexpected romance and Cassie may not make it out alive.

I love Center's writing. The dialogue is quick and witty, she knows exactly how to build tension and when to finally let it break, and her female characters are strong without being hard, soft without being wimpy, sarcastic without being caustic. Center's stories are marinated in humor and heart. Cassie isn't the only great character in this book. We meet her mother, who has a complicated past but also a great perspective on life; her mother's darling neighbor; her Super Woman fire chief in Texas and her begrudging fire chief in Massachusetts. We also meet some funny firefighters and one or two that are kind of mean. I really liked this book and I can't wait to read Center's other books. 

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Three books by Lisa Jewell in one month is absolutely not too many. I just couldn't help myself! When I got to the last few days of December and realized that I had read fifty-one books in 2019, the Type A personality in me just couldn't resist the urge to finish with just one more, but with it being the holidays I knew I would need something fast. My past experience with Jewell practically guaranteed I would make my goal. 

The Family Upstairs follows Libby on her journey to discover who she is. Recently turned twenty-five, Libby has just inherited a huge house in a very posh area of London. Adopted as a baby, Libby has never known anything about her birth family. When the inheritance arrives, she attempts to uncover her own beginnings, the mystery surrounding the death of her parents, and the odd life they lived. Libby's chapters alternate with those of her biological siblings Lucy and Henry. Both have been in hiding since the events that led to Libby's adoption, but they are ready now to reunite. They tell the story of their strange upbringing and the family that moved into the upstairs rooms of their home.

Jewell certainly doesn't disappoint in this creepy tale of domestic drama. This book moved so fast, but I can't say I'd recommend it as something to read while visiting family. The urge to hide myself away in a closet just to find out what would happen next is not exactly conducive to good family relations and I had to force myself to put it away. Fortunately for me, our visit ended with a long, boring drive home (life fifteen hours long) and I had plenty of time to finish. This book wasn't what I was expecting and I think that's a good thing. I love the way Jewell twists and turns and subverts the readers expectations while still leaving us wondering at the end.

If you're looking for something fun to start off your year of reading, this is a good one!

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

I loved A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (the audio version is also fantastic). After reading a couple of suspense thrillers that got a little dark, I needed some lightness and thought Backman's 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry might be the perfect antidote to not only those other books, but also for any holiday stress that might come up this time of year.

I was so right.

In this second offering by Backman, we meet Elsa, an almost-eight-year-old girl who has been repeatedly labeled "a little different". Luckily for Elsa, she has the perfect Granny for her- a woman who seems a bit crazy and is quite "different" herself. When Elsa's beloved grandmother dies, Elsa is left with the responsibility of delivering letters to her neighbors, all to whom Granny feels the need to apologize.

This book is sweet and wonderful and absolutely beautiful. Elsa's story is inextricably intertwined with the fairy tales her grandmother has told her all her life. As Elsa begins delivering her letters, she learns just how close to reality those tales are. The imagination that fills these pages is magical. There are several times I had to go back and reread a line or two just to fully bask in the beauty.

This book deals with grief and loss in the most tender way. It isn't just Elsa's loss of her grandmother, but as we meet the large cast of characters we learn they are all carrying their own pain and grief. It was also so very funny in places. Granny has a lot of spunk and is "perky for her age" which means she causes a fair amount of trouble and doesn't have any difficulty standing up for herself or especially for Elsa.

Having a grandmother is like having an army. This is a grandchild's ultimate privilege: knowing that someone is on your side, always, whatever the details.

Even when you are wrong. Especially then, in fact.

Normally, I finish a book and then I pass it on to someone else to enjoy it. This time, I'm not sure I can give it away. There are so many wonderful quotes in this book that I've tagged and might want to go back to again. On the other hand, it would be a shame to not share this charming, delightful book with someone else. I will try to be brave.