This book of historical fiction tells the life of an Iranian poetess who led a short but remarkable life.  Forough Farrokzhad was born in Tehran in 1935, the second daughter of a subservient mother and a father who was a colonel in the Shah’s army.   Although her father was a strict disciplinarian, Forough often disobeyed his rules, even when she knew that if she was discovered there would be dire consequences.  She was willing to achieve her independence, no matter what the cost.  She married young, divorced,  had several affairs, wrote scandalous poems and directed films that shocked many Iranians.  She was greatly admired by some and loathed by others.

I don’t think an author could have invented a character much more complex, colorful and iconoclastic than Forough Farrokzhad.  Not only did I enjoy reading about this unique woman,  I also liked learning about the history of Iran during the 50’s and 60’s.

I picked up this debut novel, read the flap and thought I would give it 20 pages-no more.  Although it is brutal and violent, I found myself enthralled with the main character and the plot.  Most of Only Killers and Thieves takes place in 1885 in a desolate, arid part of Australia,  The McBride family is literally starving.  Their cattle are bone-thin and thus not saleable,  and because of the drought, nothing will grow in their sandy, parched soil.  Also, Mr. McBride does not see eye to eye with John Sullivan, by far the wealthiest man in the territory, so the family is unable to purchase anything on credit.  Tommy and Billy McBride are away from home when tragedy befalls the rest of the family.  Both boys, age 15 and 16, are coerced into facing many dangerous situations in order to avenge their family.

Parts of this novel is distasteful with characters that are despicable.  However, Paul Horwath’s prose is so clean and clear (much like Cormac McCarthy’s),  that I felt compelled to read on.

Cantu, who is Mexican on his mother’s side and speaks fluent Spanish, spent from 2008 to 2012 as an agent for the United States Border Patrol.  During those four years, he spent more than half his time rounding up individuals who had crossed the border from Mexico to the United States illegally and placing them in a deportation center or discovering those who died from thirst, heat and starvation trying to get into this country.  Cantu also heard horrific stories about how the drug cartel took care of those they thought were trying to escape their influence.  Eventually the stress of his job made his life unbearable and he left it.  Three years later he met  and tried to help Jose an illegal immigrant deported back to Mexico while his wife and three sons remained in the United States.

Cantu writes a powerful story that provide no answers, only more questions, to the immigration problems we are facing.

I am a huge fan of Dave Eggers.   He is a great writer, his heart is in the right place, and each of his works is different from anything else he has written.  His newest is a biography of a young man I had never heard of,  yet came to admire after I read The Monk of Mokha.

Mokhtar Alkanshali grew up in one of the poorest areas of San Francisco; however, he was hard-working, intelligent, engaging and quick on his feet.  With very little backing or knowledge of what he was getting into, he set out to help the people of his parents’ native land by bringing coffee growing back to Yemen.  Yemen was the first country to grow and brew coffee centuries back, and Mokhtar feels by reintroducing the world to their coffee, the country will overcome its negative reputation and give jobs to many of the country’s unemployed.  However, to attain his lofty goal, he must face many dangerous, life threatening encounters.

This is not the kind of book that I ordinarily read, but the buzz about it sounded intriguing.  It is difficult to categorize this work of nonfiction, but I guess, in a nutshell, the author goes back in history and discusses religion, art, sociology and conflicts to predict what our future possibly could be.  One of his basic premises it that most of humankind’s history has been shaped by war, plague and famine.  However, recently advances in science, medicine and agriculture have greatly diminished these disasters.  So what will shape us now?  Harari is a master of examples.  His knowledge and his ability to translate difficult concepts and ideas into simple language and situations are incredible.  Homo Deus is provocative and, at times, frightening, but I am certainly glad I read it.

I have put off writing about Autumn because it is difficult for me to summarize and describe.  Daniel Gluck, age 101, and Elisabeth Demand, 30ish, have known each other for almost thirty years.  They were neighbors, confidantes, and now Elisabeth visits Daniel weekly in a nursing home where most of his time is spent sleeping.  Through dreams, memories and snippets of conversations, we learn about their lives, their interests and the state of the world.  Autumn is not chronological , and although the writing is beautiful in some places, the first part of the novel takes some work and can be confusing.  However, there is a reason it was short-listed for The Man Booker Award.  It is lyrical,  full of feeling and thought-provoking.  Autumn is the first of Smith’s quartet, each representing a season.

In 1969 the four Gold children, Varya, Daniel, Karla and Simon visit a fortune teller who tells them the date that each of them will die.  For the rest of their lives, this pronouncement will effect many parts of their lives.  Simon, the youngest, runs off to San Francisco when he is sixteen, works in a gay nightclub and becomes a ballet dancer.   Karla becomes a musician and performs one very dangerous feat.  Daniel is a doctor who gives physicals to army recruits and then decides if they’re physically able to serve.  And Varya, the eldest, works in a lab with primates, hoping to discover ways that human longevity can be increased.  As we learn more about each of the Golds, we are introduced to other equally interesting characters.

Don’t be put off by the preface of The Immortalists.  Benjamin’s debut novel is a riveting work about fate and families.

The title of this debut novel refers to the main character and narrator, twelve year old Dave Greenfeld.  Dave is the son of hippie-like parents, the older brother of a boy who is not autistic but hasn’t said a word for years, and the grandson of a man who left Germany at the beginning of the Holocaust and has felt guilty ever since for the relatives he left behind.  Dave’s parents are liberal thinkers who feel it would be advantageous for him to attend public school where the majority of the students are Black or Hispanic.   Dave has blond curly hair and fair skin, so he is an easy target for other students.  However, life takes an upward turn when he becomes friends with Marlon, a motivated student from the projects who doesn’t fit in either.

Dave speaks as a street kid would, so it took me a little while to figure out everything he was saying.  Once I caught on, I realized Dave Greenfeld had a lot to say about pre-teen angst, the feel of being an outsider and some of the problems with race relations.

This novel by the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry takes place, for the most part, on a small street in an English town that is not thriving.  The main character, Frank, owns a record store.  He employs a quirky, clumsy young man named Kit and refuses to sell CD’s.  In fact, he is adamant that he will always only sell vinyl.   Frank also has the uncanny gift of finding a recording that will help each of his customers feel better.   As the novel unfolds, we are introduced to other merchants who have shops on Unity Street as well as Frank’s eccentric mother and a mysterious young woman named Ilse.

If you’re a music fan and enjoy nothing more than a feel good read,  this is the book for you.  The Music Shop has it’s sad, touching moments, but the happy times outweigh them.

Taking place in Victorian England, Perry describes life in a small village in Essex where a serpent is believed by some to have caused the untimely deaths of a few of its citizens.  Central among the book’s characters is Will Ransome, a minister who doubts the validity of the serpent, Stella, his wife, who firmly believes it exists and Cora Seaborne, a young widow from London who feels love and empathy for both Will and Stella.  There are love triangles galore in this debut novel, with interesting, realistic secondary characters.

The Essex Serpent is a slow read written in the style of a Victorian novel with letters interspersed throughout the text.  The story contains a slowly evolving plot with much detail about the Essex environment.