Mar 26, 2019

Book Review: Those People by Louise Candlish

Book review: Those People by Louise Candlish

Those People

Those People by Louise Candlish, publication June 11, 2019, Berkley

This is a psychological thriller, a novel of suspense, with the story beginning when a strange couple move into the quiet upscale neighborhood, into the home of a woman who had died. The couple begin running a business next door even though this is a residential neighborhood. Not only that, but they litter their yard with old, used cars they are fixing or selling, and park the vehicles up and down the street, creating an eyesore for the neighbors.

Things get worse when there is loud music well into the nights, swearing, and lots of drinking, banging and house repairing going on at all hours. The neighborhood are at a loss as to what to do and get no response from these new interlopers.

Of course there is murder or attempted murder, but by whom and against who? The story focuses more on the neighborhood and its people than on the newcomers who are causing the trouble. How they react or attempt to cope is the focus of the story line.

I read to the end, a bit surprised by the people involved in the deaths, and think this was a fair to good suspense novel.

Rating: 4/5
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC sent for my possible review.

Mar 19, 2019

All the Rage by Darcy Lockman: First Chapter, First Paragraph

Nonfiction

All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership

All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership
All the Rage
All the Rage by Darcy Lockman, publication May 7, 2019, Harper
Genre: non-fiction
Gender inequality that has not changed: the unequal amount of parental work that falls on women, no matter their class or professional status.

Opening paragraph (text may change in the final copy)

Introduction 
The Problem That Has No Name 
Married with Children 

Am I being unfair to my husband? 
It is a gray spring Saturday in 2016, the day before Mother's Day. There've been ten days of rain preceding this one;, and I've spent half of those in Michigan with my kids without their father, visiting my parents. I love taking my daughters to Detroit, but solo-parenting Liv and Tess is draining, not least because I am the only person available to issue and enforce the dreary commands of early childhood, the one that begin upon waking and do not cease until it is night and the weight of their petal-soft eyelids has finally become too heavy to resist. Use the potty. Brush your teeth. Put on your socks. Put on your shoes. Don't hit your sister. Clean up the basement....
Author Darcy Lockman is a former journalist turned psychologist. Her first book, Brooklyn Zoo, chronicled the year she spent working in a city hospital's psychiatric ward. She lives with her husband and daughters in Queens.

Meme: Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. 

Mar 16, 2019

Sunday Salon: Novel Inspired by Jackie K. Onassis

Novel inspired by Jackie Kennedy Onassis:

The Editor
The Editor
The Editor by Steven Rowley, publication April 2, 2019, Putnam
Genre: fiction
Jackie Kennedy, book editor, encourages budding author James Smale to write an authentic ending to his telling autobiography.

Historical fiction set in Georgian England:
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins, publication May 21, 2019, Harper
Genre: historical drama
A former Caribbean slave is accused of murdering her former employer and his wife in Georgian England, but she believes she is innocent.

Psychological suspense:

The Last Time I Saw You
The Last Time I Saw You
The Last Time I Saw You by Liv Constantine. publication May 7, 2019, Harper
Genre: psychological suspense, mystery 
A murderer taunts the daughter of a woman killed, while her best friend, a bestselling mystery author, tries to help her. 

Historical mystery:

Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr, #14)
Who Slays the Wicked
Who Slays the Wicked by C.S. Harris, publication April 2, 2019, Berkley Books
Genre: #14 in the Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series, stand-alone novel
St. Cyr is called in to solve the death of a fiendish nobleman in Regency-era England

What books are you reading this week?
The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  Stacking the Shelves, and It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date., and Mailbox Monday.

Mar 12, 2019

Library Finds: March 2019

My new library books

Our new library has bright indoor lights and windows from floor to ceiling. It's wide, long, and spacious, and there are comfortable sofas and chairs with a living room setting in this corner and that. When I go there to just browse, or so I think, I often come away with not one or two, but three and four books I never intended to borrow. 

But a favorite author's new book grabbed my attention, then another, then a book that I saw on social media being touted by the publisher, then a book suggested by a friend I met in the stacks. Here are three of the books I got.  

The Golden Tresses of the Dead (Flavia de Luce #10)
The Golden Tresses of the Dead is the latest in the Flavia de Luce mystery series


The Sun Is Also a Star


The Sun is Also a Star is a teen romance that will be released as a movie this May. I am enjoying its dissection of love into the scientific and romantic.

I have also borrowed:
The Plotters by Un-Su Kim is described as a crime novel set in an alternate Seoul, Korea. I am not normally a fantasy or sci-fi fan, but we'll see....

Did you find anything you liked at the library recently?

Mar 10, 2019

Sunday Salon: New and Recent Books

New and recent books:

The Paris Diversion
The Paris Diversion
The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone, May 7, 2019, Crown Publishing Group
Genre: political thriller, suspense
About: terror attack across Paris affects expat Kate Moore and her family


Map of the Heart
Map of the Heart
Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs, February 12, 2019, William Morrow
Genre: historical drama
About: Set in WWII France, Provence, and Delaware, a family discovers family surprises when they return to France. 
All the Beautiful Lies: A Novel
All the Beautiful Lies
All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson, published February 5, 2019, William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: suspense, psychological thriller
About: Set in Maine. Harry Ackerson returns home after the death of his father and tangles with his step-mother and a myserious woman.

The ABC Murders (Hercule Poirot #13)
The ABC Murders
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie, paperback, TV Tie- in published January 8, 2019, William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: mystery, Hercule Poirot #13
About: tie-in to a limited streaming series starring John Malkovich, Rupert Grint, and Tara Fitzgerald.


Currently re-reading:

Maman a tort
Maman a Tort
Maman a Tort by Michel Bussi, Kindle edition, June 15, 2017, Presses de la Cite
Genre: suspense, thriller set in the Havre, France
About: A three-and-a-half year-old boy, Malone, tells his school psychologist that his parents are not his real parents, and sets off a series of events.


Finished reading:

We Were the Lucky Ones
We Were the Lucky Ones
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter, published February 14, 2017, Viking
Genre: historical novel based on true stories of a Jewish family in Poland
About: the author discovers her family are WWII survivors and decided to tell the story in novel form of their experiences living in and escaping Poland during WWII, 
Comments: The author does meticulous historical and family research to outline the political events in Poland during 1939 through the end of the war, events that shaped their family history of survival and flight that left their family luckily intact. I learned a lot of history from reading this book, which was a pick for our library book club. 

What books are you reading this week?
The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  Stacking the Shelves, and It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date., and Mailbox Monday.What books are you reading this week?

Mar 5, 2019

Currently Reading: Don 't Let Go by Michel Bussi

French novel: Don't Let Go by Michel Bussi

Don't Let Go
Don't Let Go
Don't Let Go by Michel Bussi is a book I read in the original French, but decided to re-read the English version to see the details I might have missed. My reading French is okay but far from perfect.

The translation as far as I can tell sticks closely to the original and I have picked up lots of small nuances and descriptive information the author wanted the reader to see. The setting is spectacular, the small French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, visited by lots of French tourists because of its dramatic geography - volcanoes, beautiful beaches, rocky and mountainous terrain, etc.

The story involves the disappearance of a French woman from her Reunion hotel. She leaves her husband and six-year-old daughter behind. The police are suspecting foul play though it seemed at the beginning she might have packed a suitcase and run away.

The plot is not straightforward or predictable and things are not what they seem. I am learning a lot about the island geography, people, and culture, while enjoying a suspenseful mystery.

Here is the cover of the original book in French:

Ne lache pas ma main
Ne Lache Pas Ma Main

French version: Ne Lache Pas Ma Main


Have you read books in another language?

Feb 25, 2019

Recent Books: The Book of Night Women by Marlon James; and others

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

The Book of Night Women


Published February 19th 2009 by Riverhead (first published January 17th 2009)

Genre: historical fiction set in 18th century Jamaica
About: women coping with slavery on a plantation

Horrendous reading so far. The novel uses Jamaican colonial history as a background 
Death in Provence
Death in Provence

Death in Provence by Serena Kent

Publication: February 19, 2019, Harper
Genre: new mystery set in France


American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt


American Duchess by Karen Harper

Publication: February 26th 2019 by William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: historical fiction
Consuelo Vanderbilt and her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.
What books are you reading this week?

Sunday Salon: Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson

  Books reviewed Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson, July 31, 2024; BooksGoSocial Genre: thriller , family drama Themes: reflectiv...