David Nicholls: Novels on Love and Marriage

I rediscovered author David Nicholls whose new book, You Are Here, will be published May 28. Thanks to an ARC from NetGalley, I was able to read and give another five stars, a rating I also gave to his book, Us, published 2014. 

Us by David Nicholls

Publication Sept. 30, 2014

Genre: family drama, travel

Review: Douglas, a "nerdy" and rigid biochemist tries to save his strained marriage and reconnect with his teenage son during a month-long Grand Tour of Europe. His wife, Connie, a much freer spirit then he, wants to return to her art and the freedom she had as a single woman twenty five years previously. Their son Albie, soon to be a college student, seems estranged and uncommunicative with his father.

The adventure in Europe changes Douglas and exposes him to new experiences and people that open up his previously narrow view of life. It changes the family dynamic as well. The ending is a surprise one.

My rating: 5 stars. Great plot about family dynamics; wonderful characterizations. I may reread this travel and family drama as I  reviewed it nine years ago!

Review

Here is the author's newest book, a love story that begins and develops during a long hike in the hills and dells of Northern England. I gave it five stars.

You Are Here by David Nicholls

Publication: May 28, 2024; Harper, NetGalley

Genre: romance, travel

Review: Michael and Marnie meet on a coast to coast hiking trip in the North of England that was organized by a mutual friend. They are both single, being divorced or separated from their significant others, and their friend Cleo has brought them together with this hike. 

This is basically a romance that develops during a ten-mile hiking trip that brings the two people closer together. I liked how they open up to each other, albeit rather slowly and tentatively at first, on this hike. The book is character centered, the personalities of Michael and Marnie emphasized as they reveal more about themselves to each other.

The last part of the book had the most interest, as Marnie leaves the hike to return to London and the reader is left wondering if she will ever get together with Michael again. That there are still issues with their significant others to clear up adds to the drama.

An enjoyable book, though slow in the middle as conversation between the two doesn't advance the plot as quickly as it could.  The descriptive writing is superb, however, and some of the conversation is witty and original in its humor. 

Some of Nicholls' other books:

One Day, published June 2009. I plan to read these soon. 

Description: Two people meet on graduation day and meet on the same day for the next 20 years, the book description of this romance seems to say.

 The Understudy, published 2005.

Description: A hapless, bumbling bloke in love, an arrogant megastar with a potpourri of addictions, a sexy married woman out of her element in the fast lane–David Nicholls brings them all together in this knockout romantic comedy.

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves     

Sunday Salon: What I'm Reading and Watching

 What I'm Reading

Happy Mother's Day! 

There are lots of concerned mothers in this book that I'm now reading

The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames ( July 23, 2024), Knopf, NetGalley

Book description:  Set in Calabria, 1960. One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets. The best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling—by turns funny and moving—novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy.

Enjoying: The historical info on the region of Calabria in Southern Italy, fluid writing by the author, an intriguing story of a lost/missing boy from years past,  atmospheric descriptions of a small and isolated Italian village, its inhabitants, and their lives. 

I hope to finish The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames before going on to the myriad of saved ebooks on my list. 

What I reviewed

The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani

Publication July 2, 2024; Soho Crime

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tokyo, 1979. An intriguing mobster/yakuza novel about Shindo, a brawny woman kidnapped and forced to be the bodyguard of the mob boss's daughter. Shindo nevertheless grows to become friends with her ward, Shoko, who is tougher than she appears. The world of violence and revenge they endure from then on is portrayed well in spite of all the gore.

The story jumps without warning at the end to decades in the future. It's a surprise but, nevertheless, gratifying to see the women surviving the hyper masculine world they lived in.

What I watched/am watching

For May, which celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I am continuing watching Asian dramas on TV. These include the ever popular Kdramas, Jdramas, Cdramas, and even a Vietnamese drama I just discovered. The Last Wife. a period piece set in the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam, is about a reluctant third wife whose life is changed when she meets her childhood lover again by chance. 

I've also just finished Special Ops: Lioness a TV series starring  Nicole Kidman, about CIA agents who send a tough young woman undercover to befriend the daughter of their Middle Eastern target. I did enjoy this action thriller series though it's shorter than others.

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves       

Sunday Salon: Cozy and Less Cozy Mysteries

 Cozy Mystery

I rarely read cozies these days, except for a few like Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries. This latest is the 28th in the popular series. popular because of tea shop owner and amateur sleuth, Theodosia Browning, and the setting in Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the recipes and tea time tips included in the books. 

Peach Tree Smash will be published August 6, 2024 by Berkley. I just got the eARC and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Description: Murder at an Alice in Wonderland–themed event threatens to send Theodosia Browning through the looking glass. During the Mad Hatter Masquerade, a fundraiser hosted by the Friends of the Opera, Harlan Sadler, husband of Cricket Sadler, the chairwoman, is murdered. Theodosia and her gang are resolved to find the culprit.

Another book I'm looking forward to:

My visit to Toronto sped by like a long weekend instead of the seven days I was there. Having family company and good food was a great way to spend the start of spring.

This novel, Long Weekend by S.M. Thomas (April 16, 2024) will be quite different for the people in the weekend thriller. Set on a luxurious island resort with famous guests, journalist Emma's anticipated fun trip turns instead into a nightmare!  

Just finished

The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas (January 1, 2023) was one of the books available to download for free through World Book Day 2024, a yearly program that promotes reading worldwide. The date is always April 23 in the U.S. 

I've distributed books for them in the past on this day, standing in the mall handing out selected books to surprised but delighted mall goers. 

The Blue Bar is a noir thriller set in Mumbai, India, and is a police procedural that involves corruption on many levels - in the police, among well known businessmen, underground mafia, and the social elite and their families. There is an unnamed deranged man or "boy" as he is called by his assistant, who has been kidnapping and killing bar girls over the years but who is  "protected" from discovery by many of the influential people.

Police inspector Arnav Singh Rajput tries to save a former bar dancer, his lover, from landing in the hands of this serial killer and risks his life to find the man's identity. The suspense of the novel lies in the many likely and unlikely suspects that Arnav must sort through find the "boy."

I gave this intriguing thriller 4 stars. There were a few inconsistencies, though minor ones.  Though it was a good read for adult lovers of mysteries, I was surprised it was included in the World Book Day selection because of the noir quality of the book, the vivid descriptions of violence, physical and psychological.

What I'm Watching

I'm still watching tv more than reading. I finished the 16 episode kdrama series, Queen of Tears, a family drama and romance which was ultra popular in Korea as well, a big plus for Netflix. The same main male actor was also in another drama I liked, It's Okay to Not Be Okay. He's the top wage earner today in Korean drama, and it's easy to see why. 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Sunday Salon: Quick Trip and a Book Review of The Other Passenger by J.E. Rowney

 I’m visiting relatives in Toronto and am also reading The Other Passenger The Other Passenger by J. E. Downey. A new book from NetGalley, publication May 31, 2024. 

The Other Passenger 

May 31, 2024

Description: On the run from their pasts, a man and a woman are forced together by the weather and by necessity. When a radio news broadcast reports that a body has been found further back along the road on which they are travelling, tensions rise and it’s only so long before the truth must come out. But the truth is never quite what you imagine.''

My review: 

Emma and David are both running away from something and land up in the same car during a terrific storm on a dark night in a remote area of England. David we know from the outset is upset at being passed over for an award at work that he was sure he was going to get; Emma is trying to find her sister Angeline.

The descriptions of the car ride into the stormy night and of the two strangers in the same car going somewhere, but not knowing exactly where, carries the story. The plot is not complicated but the background stories and the interaction between the two strangers, forty-year- old David and the 21-year-old Emma, also carry the story.

The ending of this psychological thriller came as a surprise. It was well worth reading for the writing as well as for the plot.

Hope you are all enjoying spring or whichever weather zone you are in. I’m loving the good food here that I can’t get back home, namely dim sum with all the varieties, Jamaican patties, and sticky rice with roast pork and mushrooms. 

And of course seeing relatives again. 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Magic, High Fantasy, Historical Fiction: the Poppy War Trilogy

 Mailbox

Another book came in the mail, thanks to Wiley Saickek Publicity.

A Fondness for Truth: A Linder and  Donatellli Mystery by Swiss/American author, Kim Hays, April 16, 2024, Seventh Street Books

Genre: thriller, mystery

Description: Andi Eberhart is riding her bicycle homewhen she is killed in a hit-and-run. Her partner Nisha is convinced the death was no accident since Andi had been receiving homophobic hate mail for several years. Nisha, a second-generation immigrant from Sri Lanka, has her own problems; her traditional Tamil father has banished her from the family home and won’t acknowledge Nisha and Andi’s baby daughter.

Homicide Detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to investigate what happened to Andi. This is the third book in the series, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Currently reading

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, May 1, 2018; Harper Voyager

Genre: historical fiction, fantasy, high fantasy, magic 

Description: When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good....

An epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic. I had to read this to see why it received all the awards and accolades. Apart from being a Goodreads Choice Award for 2018, the first book received 

Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (2018), Locus Award Nominee for First Novel (2019), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (2019), Compton Crook Award (2019), British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds Award) (2019), and several other award nominations

The other books in the trilogy are

The Dragon Republic and 

The Burning God. All three books won the Goodreads Choice and the last two were also nominated for awards.

R. F. Kuang is also the author of Babel, Yellowface 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Voices of the Old and the New: Corky Lee and Julia Alvarez

 

NEW RELEASES

Corky Lee's Asian America

Fifty Years of Photographic Justice

by Corky Lee

Publication April 9, 2024; Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, NG

Photos celebrating the history and cultural impact of the Asian American social justice movement, from a beloved photographer who sought to change the world, one photograph at a time.

Corky Lee

American activist, community organizer, photographer, journalist, and the self-proclaimed unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate. He called himself an "ABC from NYC ... wielding a camera to slay injustices against APAs." Wikipedia

I heard a lot about Corky Lee and his photographs showing Asian American activism in the U.S.

Introduction to the book

John J. Lee, Chee Wang Ng & Mae Ngai

This is the story of a man who endeavored to change the world, one photograph at a time. Who dared to create a record of an upheaval—of thoughts and beliefs that held a people down, of an ignorant nation that prevented the growth of ideas new and better. The truth and a bit of justice. This is the story of our brother and friend, whom the world came to know as Corky Lee.

With each photograph he took, Corky aimed to break the stereotype of Asian Americans as docile, passive, and above all, foreign to the United States. He insisted that Asian Americans are Americans, that they were, and are, part of this country, of its history and the ongoing project of its making. As he wrote after 9/11, “Do not let anyone tell you to go back to the country of your ancestors. You belong here. Immigrants built America. It was created for you and me.”

The Cemetery of Untold Stories

A Novel

by Julia Alvarez

Published April 2, 2024; Algonquin Press, NG

Genre: magical realism, historical fiction

The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried?  Julia Alvarez reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.

The plot: Alma Cruz, the writer in The Cemetery of Untold Stories, inherits a plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland; she creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and revisions and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her. 

Among them: Bienvenida, the abandoned second wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo, consigned to oblivion by history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States.
 
Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas, and the cemetery becomes a mysterious sanctuary for their true narratives. 
The characters defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves.

 

Julia Alvarez

left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. Her books and poetry have garnered wide recognition. In the Time of the Butterflies was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.

What are you reading/watching this week? Are any of them new releases? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

TV Drama, Thriller, Rom Com: Sunday Salon

 Watching TV

I've found a few good Korean, Chinese, and Japanese tv dramas dubbed in English or with English captioning, such as Midnight Diner, set in a district of Tokyo and based on the manga by Yarō Abe titled Shin'ya Shokudō. 

Queen of Tears promotional poster (Wikipedia)

The Korean drama I'm watching is Queen of Tears, and am waiting for the 9th episode airing tomorrow. There are 16 episodes in all, so I'll have to wait week by week to see them all. 

The story:  a haughty department store owner marries a lawyer from a poor farming family who courts her thinking she is sweet but poor girl. After she commits a terrible betrayal in their marriage, the two become estranged for over several years, though he continues working for their wealthy family in Seoul. The couple faces multiple crises but may find their way back together. Just how and if they will make it is the theme right now as the husband has come to despise his controlling wife, keeping divorce papers on hand.

Why do I watch K dramas?  The romance plots and family dynamics are complex, and so are the interesting and often humorous side characters populating the many episodes, more than any one book can hold!  The cinematography is usually very good. 

Currently reading

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen, August 6, 2024 by St. Martin's Press, NG

Genre: thriller, domestic drama, child advocate

What I've read so far: Nine-year-old Rose stopped speaking after seeing her nanny Tina fall to her death from an upstairs window. A lawyer and child advocate is sent to determine which of the parents Rose should live with after their upcoming divorce. This is the setting of the thriller. 

The advocate, Stella, is determined to find out if the pregnant nanny's death was an accident or a murder and by whom. Everyone in the house seems to be lying, making it harder for the lawyer to make any decisions about the child's final custody.

Flashbacks to Stella's own childhood trauma, hearing her mother's murder, haunts this story as Stella decides to also find out the truth about her own mother. 

Rom Com in the Mail

Thanks to Avon Books for One Last Word by Suzanne Park, April 16, 2024

Many rom coms are hit or miss but this plot looks entertaining.

Description: an aspiring tech entrepreneur develops an app, which sends messages to loved ones after you pass. She accidentally sends her final words to all the important people in her life—including the venture capital mentor she’s crushing on.

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday