Sheets by Brenna Thummler

Sheets
by Brenna Thummler

239 pages

3/5

Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.

Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.

When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain.

The beginning of the book rocks.  It's utterly poignant and really touched my heart.  The middle to end of this book is 'meh' - at best.  I was so disappointed!  I needed more of the deep and less of the campy side characters.  I'm glad I read it, as it reminded me how much I like graphic novels, but I won't be recommending it anytime soon.  I may keep an eye on this author, though.  There is massive potential there; I saw it.  It just wasn't sustained.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd and her husband Arthur leave Georgia for Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. She watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented. She gives birth to nine more children.

Arthur is a disappointment to her, as he works at a series of menial jobs; she was raised to believe she was better than that, and deserved more. As she becomes more and more distant, Arthur turns to other women, and Hattie herself has an affair with another man.

Each chapter of the book follows the life of one of the children, with the dysfunctional family life threads running through it.

322 pages

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story is everything. It's such a rich and honest portrayal of family, and it ripped my heart open and stitched it back together a thousand times.

It's the story of 3 siblings, who all grew up in different homes, under different circumstances, not even knowing the others exist. It's told from 3 POVs that are so different and yet also achingly similar.

I love this one. It hurts in all the right ways, and my only complaint is that I'm an idiot and should have read this book last year, during one of the 9 different times I checked it out and then didn't follow through with reading it. I'm slow on the uptake folks, but I do eventually get there.

Book 4 read in 2018

Pages: 374

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

3.5/5

226 pages

Summary: Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works, is the bright spot in her life. She dreams of the day when he will realize they're perfect for each other. But one day Ayoola shows up to the hospital uninvited and he takes notice. When he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and what she will do about it.
Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite has written a deliciously deadly debut that's as fun as it is frightening.

This book seems to be everywhere.  I've seen multiple reviews, and it's appeared on all kinds of lists and blogs I follow.  So - I had very high hopes.  I mean, look at that cover art!  Stunning.  And the title!  Thriller.  Sadly, for me, those were the best points of this novel (really, it's a novella as the chapters are very short, some only sentences long).  There is so much crammed into this short book, and with the added choppiness of the chapters, the pace is just off.  This is a novel of scenes.  Don't get me wrong, there are some gems in this book.  The characters are interesting and the ending surprising -  I just wanted this to be so much more than it is.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.

But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. 

Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.

But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?

Let's start with the 'yays'.  This book has voice, y'all.  And it's good, in both meanings of the word.  The protagonist, Julia, is excellent.  She acts and sounds like a teen, warts and all.  She's selfish but insightful, insecure but confident in what she wants, and angsty but not without compassion.  I found  myself identifying with Julia and being reminded of what it was like in my world when I was a teen.  In addition, the author has a unique way of making you feel the story.  I often mentally paused to appreciate a turn of phrase, metaphor, or image.

The bad?  The massive amount of issues shoved into this book.  The timeline moves fast, and I wasn't always sure just how much time had passed.  The 'main' conflict, the mystery of her dead sister, was meh at best.  It wasn't engaging, and I mentally checked out as the book went on during those parts.

Overall, I found depth in Julia's relationship with her family, and I was moved by the sheer 'teenageness' of Julia. 

352 pages

4/5

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

 
Jim and Bob Burgess have a past. When he was four years old, Bobby killed his father.  Now in their fifties, and far from their native Maine, they are both lawyers in New York City. Jim is a successful corporate attorney, while Bob works for Legal Aid. Jim has always belittled Bob and Bob has always taken it in stride; he idolizes his big brother.

When their nephew is arrested for rolling a pig's head down the length of a Muslim Mosque, they go back to Shirley Falls to help their sister. Suddenly, they are thrown into a family situation that changes their dynamics forever.
                





337 pages

A Small Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba

Summary: A boy name Kyo is saved from the precipice of death by Bamboo, a vampire born of the tall grasses. They start an enjoyable, yet strange shared life together, Kyo and the gentle Bamboo. But for Bamboo, communication with a human being is the greatest sin.

Kyo's story is uniquely beautiful and touching.  I found myself continually wishing I were able to read this in the original Japanese as it was occasionally obvious that something was left behind in the translation.  And while there are two additional stories in the novel, Kyo's is the best by far.   

Overall, this novel is a fresh take on 'horror' - one that is thoughtful, hopeful, and sad all at the same time.  It isn't the best book I've ever read, it's not even in the top third, but I am thankful to have read it.

3.5/5

288 pages

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

The Morrison family lives in an isolated Northern Ontario rural community. There are four children; two older teenage boys, a younger girl, and an infant. Education is very important to the family, and the oldest son, Luke, has just been admitted to university. When the parents go to town to buy him a suitcase, they are hit by a farm truck and killed, leaving the four children to fend for themselves.  Luke gives up going to university to stay home and take care of the girls.

Matt, the second son, is more scholarly anyway, and Luke plans for him to be the one to get the education. Matt plans to work and save money for college, and then help Kate to go to college, who in turn will help Bo, the baby girl.

However, plans go awry, and what follows is years of non-communication that keeps the siblings from keeping the close bond they once had.


306 pages

Only Love can Break a Heart by Ed Tarkington

Eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul. In 1977, in small-town Virginia, Paul is sixteen and cool, cruising around in his Chevy Nova, listening to Neil Young, cigarette dangling from his lips, arm around his girlfriend. Paul and his girlfriend are always happy to take Rocky with them. But one day, in an act of vengeance against their father, Paul kidnaps Rocky from school and almost kills him. Leigh, Paul's girlfriend, promises to go away with him if he takes Rocky home. Paul and Leigh then disappear without a trace.

A few years later, Leigh returns, sans Paul. She will not talk about him, or their experiences, even where they've been.  Leigh eventually has a nervous breakdown, shortly before Paul returns. A mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion to their small town, and Leigh and Paul are arrested and charged with the murder.  Rocky and his family must reckon with the past while dealing with this new reality.

336 pages

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

In  France in 1939, Vianne Mauriac is living in the quiet village of Carriveau with her husband and young daughter when he is sent to the Front.  It is unthinkable that Germany will invade France, but they do.  The French government immediately capitulates, allowing Germany to establish two countries; Free France, and occupied France. Carriveau is in the occupied section, and a German officer billets in her home. She is forced  to accept if she expects to survive.

As the war progresses, the German take everything from the French; they take the good food, leaving the citizenry to slowly starve. They take their dignity, their hope, and in many cases, their lives. They take any valuables they might own, and people are forced to burn their furniture to survive the cold winters. In the end, of course, France is on the winning side of the war, but life will never be the same for those who live through it.


440 pages

The Turner House, By Angela Flournoy

This lovely tale is Ms. Flournoy's debut novel; it is the story of the Turner family -- parents who migrated from the south in the 1940s to Detroit.  They purchased the house on Yarrow Street, in east Detroit and raised their 13 children there.  It is well written, with nicely developed characters and a plot that is driven by the family drama, pathos, and humor. 

352 pages

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

On a cold winter's night in Lexington, KY, Norah Henry goes into labor. It is 1964, and Lexington is in the midst of a blinding blizzard. Norah's husband, Dr. David Henry, administers drugs and delivers twins; a healthy baby boy and a girl with Down syndrome. Deciding that his wife cannot handle having a 'handicapped' child, he instructs his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take the child to an institution and never reveal its existence.

However, Caroline cannot bring herself to leave the child when she sees what life is like in the institution, so she takes the child and disappears. She moves to another city and raises the little girl as her own. Norah is told that her son Paul's twin died at birth.

Norah and David's life deteriorates under the burden of guilt (David's), grief (Norah's), and the longing for a lost sibling (Paul's).  Meanwhile, Caroline and baby Phoebe build a warm, satisfying life, albeit one also built on a lie, as is David and Norah's. A compelling read.

434 pages

"Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama" by Alison Bechdel

In this follow up to "Fun Home," in which she wrote about growing up with her closeted father, Bechdel now explores her relationship with her mother.  Helen Bechdel was a teacher and amateur actress, a very smart woman unhappily married to a closeted gay man.  Although she has three children, she is not the maternal sort; in fact, she stopped touching or kissing her daughter when Alison was seven.  The author weaves back and forth through time landing on instances from her childhood, college years, post-college struggles, and recent events.  This made the story hard for me to follow, although I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be linear since each chapter has a theme rather than a chronology.  Bechdel refers to the theories of psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott and the words of writer Virginia Woolf throughout, and she also discusses insights she's had through many sessions in therapy.  I didn't like this book as much as I did "Fun Home," probably because this was nothing like I'd ever read and some of the concepts of Winnicott's were difficult to understand.  Although the author does come to understand and better accept her mother and their relationship, it's sad that she didn't receive more love from either parent.  286 pages.

"Not My Father's Son: A Memoir" by Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming survived a horrible childhood with an abusive father in Scotland to become a very successful actor, writer, singer, producer, and director.  (He won a Tony Award for Cabaret in 1998 and is now a regular on TV's The Good Wife.)  This memoir tells parallel stories from Alan's memories of abuse and his journey as an adult to find out more about his maternal grandfather who died in Malaysia in 1951.  He did the latter for the television show Who Do You Think You Are?  His mother's family were never told the truth about his grandfather's death, and at the same time as filming, Alan's father drops a bombshell on him after more than a decade of silence.  So there are two mysteries that he's trying to solve, and both are bound to cause emotional upheaval for him, his mother, and his older brother.

This is an excellent, well written, and riveting memoir about secrets, lies, misconceptions, and mental illness, and what they do to families.  It is not a complete autobiography of the author's entire life but about how he survived his childhood as well as two enormous revelations that happened in his 40s.  I admired Alan Cumming before I read this and that admiration is even greater now.  Highly recommended.  294 pages.

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Summary: "In their first adult novel, authors Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan take on a story of romance and rivalries inspired by today's most talked-about royal couple: Will and Kate. "If I'm Cinderella today, I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next." American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy-tales. Her twin sister Lacey was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it's adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall - and thus Bex who accidentally finds herself in love with the eventual heir to the British throne. Nick is everything she could have imagined, but Prince Nicholas has unimaginable baggage: grasping friends, a thorny family, hysterical tabloids tracking his every move, and a public that expected its future king to marry a native. On the eve of the most talked-about wedding of the century, Bex reflects on what she's sacrificed for love -- and exactly whose heart she may yet have to break."

I adore this book. So very much. I don't think my review can do it justice.

For something that seems like fan-fiction of Kate Middleton's life (another reviewer's words), The Royal We is a truly emotional and poignant story. Bex and Nick and everyone else are full, real and flawed characters. I cried multiple times: happy tears, sad tears, tears I didn't understand. 

10/10 would recommend! 

454 pages

Paradise Lost by J. A. Jance

It's been three years since Joanna Brady became sheriff of Cochise County. She's become a more confident manager, has solved many cases, and has successfully juggled the demands of her job and her personal life.  Should she run for re-election? This question lingers at the back of Joanna's mind as she tries to solve a new murder.

Joanna's daughter Jennifer and a troubled fellow Girl Scout discover the body of a brutally murdered woman. When the troubled Girl Scout is later killed in a hit and run, Joanna races to find the killer before her daughter becomes the next target. Jance continues to develop the relationships that make this series worthwhile reading, especially the one between Joanna and her mother. 371 pages.

"Checking Him Out" by Debbie McGowan

Sol and Elise have been in a lavender marriage for eight years when a pushy man annoys them in the check out aisle at the grocery store.  When the man, Adam, tracks down Sol at his engineering job to return his wallet, they find out that they are both Englishmen living in Boston.  I can't say much more without giving away major spoilers, but part of the story takes place back in England with both sets of their parents and siblings.  The author did a great job of taking what could have been an ordinary boy meets boy story and freshens it with not only with a lavender marriage but anxiety about love and living fully out of the closet.  The secondary characters were done well and played important parts in the story.  I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.  193 pages (Kindle edition).

"Carte Blanche" by Nash Summers

This was an unexpectedly moving story about a young man so overcome with anxiety and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) that he does not ever leave his apartment.  Jude Allen is able to work from home and have his groceries delivered so that he never has to depart from the safety of his four white walls.  When he gets upset, the only thing that will calm him is to scrub the apartment as much as he can with bleach.  When a new neighbor moves across the hall from him, he doesn't think much about it until the man tries to befriend him with kindness and food.  At first, Jude ignores Devin Kidd but then slowly takes small steps to come out of his shell until his mother makes an appearance and puts his progress in jeopardy.  Will he ever be able to have a normal life with a real friend?  This was another new-to-me and talented author whom I will try to read again.  61 pages (Kindle edition).

"The Backup Boyfriend" by River Jaymes

I enjoyed this story of  Dr. Alec Johnson, recently dumped by his physician boyfriend and clinic partner, and his attempt to appease his mother, who'd fought hard for her son's right to marry.  He's so afraid of disappointing her and humiliating himself that he recruits friend-of-a-friend, straight guy and motorcycle mechanic Dylan Booth, to pose as his new love interest at a big awards ceremony that his parents will be attending.  Dylan is open-minded enough to accept (his late best friend was gay), and awkwardness ensues.  This is the first book I've read by this author, and she writes great dialog with just enough humor and snarkiness to make me want to read more of her work.  279 pages (Kindle edition).

"Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight? Confessions of a Gay Dad" by Dan Bucatinsky

Bucatinsky and his partner, now his husband, had been together over 10 years before deciding to have children.  This book consists of short vignettes of their journey to adopt and their evolution as dads once they do.  Perhaps best known for his role as James Novak on TV's Scandal, Bucatinsky writes with a lot of candor and humor about raising a girl and boy in Los Angeles along with his personal doubts of being a good parent.  He relays cute dialog with his kids, his insecurities when they seem to favor his husband, and his worries about how they will deal with being adopted by two men as they get older.  Luckily, they have lots of friends and families who accept and love them unconditionally.  I found one of the most insight parts to be when Bucatinsky worries that his four-year-old son's "tough guy swagger" may indicate that he'll be a bully and terrorize kids as he was terrorized himself.  There are other serious issues, but the author writes with lovable humor and tons of self-deprecation.  Recommended.  245 pages.