Glaciers is a slim little novel by Alexis M. Smith. It takes place in Portland, OR over the course of one day in the life of twenty-something Isabel. This is a book about longing. Longing for a past that is gone, longing for a future she imagines and longing in the present for a relationship with a soldier who is about to be shipped off to war. Isabel remembers her past growing up in Alaska and watching the glaciers already…
Lisa See is one of my favorite authors of historical fiction and Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is her latest book. Set during the Ming Dynasty it tells the story of Tan Yunxian, a female doctor whose remedies are still used today. Xunxian and Meiling come from very different backgrounds, one is raised by her grandmother who is a doctor and the other by her mother who is a midwife. Despite their different circumstances, they form a deep friendship that…
The Covenant of Water is the new novel by Abraham Verghese author of Cutting for Stone. Set in Kerala, Southern India and spanning almost eight decades starting at the turn of the 20th century, this is part family saga, part history of India and wholly a masterfully written book. When a twelve year old girl is sent to marry a 40 year old man, it is hard to imagine that one day she will be the strong matriarch of the…
A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery, author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, is such a beautiful, lyrical little novel I couldn’t put it down. Quiet, guarded Rose, who has just turned 40 travels to Kyoto after her father’s death, a father she never knew. As per her late father’s wishes, she embarks on a tour of the temples of Kyoto guided by her fathers assistant. Along the way she meets some of her fathers friends including a poet, a…
The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson has been described as The Night Circus meets the X-Men and I found that to be mostly accurate. As a huge fan of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern this was enough to get me to read it. One has to suspend their disbelief as they would do when they enter a circus big top in order for the magic to flow. Rin, the Ringmaster along with the rest of Windy Van Hooten’s…
Barbara Kingsolver has long been one of my favorite writers, and her newest book, Demon Copperhead, doesn’t disappoint. Spending time in the room where Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield inspired Kingsolver to write a modern day version of the story, highlighting institutional poverty and the damages it does to children. She set her novel in the area where she lives in Appalachia and added in the the harrowing affects of the opioid crisis there. Told through Demon’s own voice, this…
Arribada by Estela Gonzales is a novel set in Mexico. Mariana, a world class pianist, grew up in a small coastal town full of beautiful beaches and sea turtles. When she returns home to help find her missing Uncle, she finds a place she no longer recognizes. She joins Fernanda, an indigenous local woman, in working on conservation projects. As the love between them grows, hidden family secrets emerge which threaten to change everything. This lyrical and poetic novel is…
The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, is a modern day fable in three parts: Homeless, Homeward, and Home. As these titles suggest, the novel sets the reader off on a very strange search for home. Magical, philosophical, at times absurd, filled with magic realism, Martel’s unique writing and storytelling doesn’t disappoint. Following three generations of men in search of answers, each after suffering great loss, the novel begins in Lisbon in 1904 and…
Embroideries is a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis; here she is much more candid. We spend an intimate afternoon of tea and conversation with nine Iranian women, friends and family who gather and speak freely with no men around. Their stories of marriage and sex, adultery, plastic surgery and much more are at times laugh out loud hilarious and at other times nothing less than tragic. A fascinating and totally uninhibited look into the inner lives of…
American Fever is the debut novel by Dur E Aziz Amna. High school honor student Hira is chosen to live in America for an exchange year during high school. While other students get sent to New York or other East Coast locations, Hira lives with a single Mom and her teenage daughter in rural Oregon, and life couldn’t be more different than back home in Pakistan. While Hira suffers through ignorance and racism about her culture religion, her own arrogance…