Jaquira Diaz spent her childhood in Puerto Rico and then Miami.  Her mother was a schizophrenic drug addict, her father worked hard but was undemonstrative and insensitive to her feelings and predicaments, and her older brother was physically abusive.  Although she had a positive relationship with her paternal grandmother and her younger sister, their love wasn’t enough to help Jaquira while she was growing up.  She was a juvenile delinquent and was taken into custody numerous times before her sixteenth birthday.  Diaz was a truant who began drinking and taking drugs at age eleven, the year she first attempted suicide.  Ordinary Girls is Jaquira Diaz’s life-its horrors and triumphs.

This memoir is a difficult read.  The author describes her life in harsh, graphic language.  Her upbringing was deprived and violent in so many ways-some of which were her own fault.  , Ordinary Girls is very well written, but it certainly is not for everyone.

Sarah Broom grew up in New Orleans, the youngest of twelve children.  Her father died when she was six months old, and her mother spent almost all of her time keeping her family safe and the house, the yellow house, from falling into disrepair.  Their home was in a poor black section of the city with no zoning, no decent schools and very few city services.  When Katrina, known around New Orleans as “the water,” hit, the yellow house was torn apart, much like the Broom family who dispersed to California, Texas and other parts of Louisiana.

The Yellow House is an interesting, well-written memoir.  However,  parts of it describe areas of New Orleans in detail, and since I have never lived there and only visited once, these sections meant nothing to me.

McDougall, his wife and two daughters live on a large tract of land in Pennsylvania in the heart of Amish country.  One day he is asked to help rescue a donkey from a man who hoards animals.  With encouragement from the youngest daughter, the McDougall’s adopt the donkey, name him Sherman and work to heal him both physically and psychologically. After he is fit,  friends and neighbors help Chris train Sherman and two other donkeys for a world champion race in Leadville, Colorado.  Along the way the author introduces his readers to a number of people who have their share of troubles, but nonetheless want help Sherman and his gang get to Colorado.

The best word to describe Running with Sherman is heartwarming.  If you’re an animal lover and were or are a runner, you will enjoy this memoir immensely.

I usually don’t read self-help or “how to” books, but this one is the exception.  I picked up How to Raise a Reader thinking I would only glance at what it had to say, and I couldn’t put it down.  Paul and Russo are editors of The New York Times Book Review and each has raised a family of readers.  Chapters are divided according to the age of the child, beginning at birth and ending at the teen years.  Most of their advice is practical, easy to understand and carry out and makes a lot of sense.  Also, at the end of each chapter are favorite books for each age – title, author and a brief summary.  At the end of How to Raise a Reader are book suggestions by category, i.e. family stories, tear jerkers, historical fiction, etc.  This is the perfect gift for  parents or grandparents of a newborn who want to pass on their love of the written word.

Olive Kitteridge is back!  She’s older, wiser, still curt, direct and way too honest, but this Olive is a bit warmer and more empathetic.  Like the original, Olive, Again is in chapters-in some Olive is the main character, in others she’s part of a supporting cast.  The entire novel takes place in Maine, mostly in the town of Cosby.  As Olive ages, we are reintroduced to friends and relatives and also meet new acquaintances and family members.  If you liked Olive Kitteridge, Olive, Again is a must.  Every chapter is filled with humor and pathos, and in the center of it all is Olive, a hugely entertaining, sympathetic, unforgettable character.

Cate is a set designer who lives in Chicago.  Her ex husband has temporarily moved into her two bedroom apartment with his large, friendly dog and she has just begun a relationship with Maureen, a costume designer who lives the good life but whose values and ethics Cate questions.  Her good friend Neale has sound morals but is too trusting.  Neal has left her back  door open for Cate, but Irene and Nathan, addicts and criminals get there first.  What happens next will forever change Neale and Cate as well as their feelings towards each other.

I liked everything about Right After the Weather-the plot, the characters, the dilemmas and the questions it poses.  If you’re in a book group, Anshaw’s novel should produce a lot of discussion

Coates’ first work of fiction centers on Hiram Walker.  His mother is a slave and his father is the master of a tobacco plantation in Virginia.  His mother disappears when Hiram is a young boy, and he is then cared for by Thena, an old slave whose children have all been sold off.  As he gets older, Hiram is a servant to his half brother, Maynard, the son of his father and the father’s wife.  Eventually it becomes evident that Hiram has a “gift” and because of this, he becomes part of the underground railroad.

I’m not sure why I finished The Water Dancer.  It was confusing, the sentences sometimes made no sense, and Coates’ characterization of Hiram was flat.   I think because I admired the author’s first book, Between the World and Me, I thought The Water Dancer would get better.  It never did.

It might seem hard to imagine that a book about The Los Angeles Public Library would be fascinating, but it truly is.  Susan Orlean begins her book describing the fire in the library on April 29, 1986, and she then moves back and forth taking her reader to the beginning of the city’s first public library to what the library has evolved into.  Interspersed within these chapters are scenes of the aftermath of the fire, and the story of the man who might have started the catastrophic blaze.

Of course, The Library Book is not for everyone,  However, if you are a book lover, have ever worked in a library and/or believe that free access to books and other forms of information is important, The Library Book is a must read.

 

 

Cyril Conroy, through wise real estate investments, is able to purchase the home of his dreams.  However, his wife, who thought she wanted to be a nun until Cyril pulled her out of the convent, despises everything about the Dutch house.  Her son, Danny, is a baby and her daughter, Maeve, has just started school when she leaves the Dutch house forever.  Danny, the narrator of the novel, describes what happens to the family after her departure.

The Dutch House is a good story.  The characters are realistic except for the evil step mother and even the family home has a singular personality.  I think Ann Patchett has written another best seller, although I felt the ending was a bit abrupt.

It is 1941 in Berlin, and Hanni, a widow, desperately wants her only child, Lea, to flee the city and the Nazi’s.  Her last hope is to have the rabbi’s daughter produce a golem, a statue made of clay that magically comes to life.  The golem will protect Lea and get her safely to Paris where, hopefully, Hanni’s cousins will take them in.  The cousins, mathematician Andre Levi, his wife and two sons allow Lea and the golem to stay temporarily.  The World That We Knew follows these characters and several others as they travel and hide throughout France for the next three years.

If you are not a fan of Alice Hoffman, especially when her novels have a strong sense of magic, The World That We Knew is going to be a disappointment.  On the other hand, if you’re willing to suspend belief and learn about golems and the angel of death, you will find The World That We Knew full of delightful characters woven into a tense plot.