Double Dutch by Sharon M. Draper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another wholesome book that is probably a 5 star book for girls age 11-15, 3 stars for H.S. girls, and likely a 2 star book for boys. It's a clever little story about 8th graders, each of whom has an important secret he/she keeps to himself/herself out of fear of embarrassment and not fitting in with the theme of don't judge someone unless you really know them.

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Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very good 3.5 stars which I boosted to 4 rather than reduced to 3 stars because it is very funny, very clean, and very wholesome, a combination becoming increasingly difficult to find in YA literature. It has entirely quirky yet believable characters. This is a great book for preteen to adult readers. The audio is narrated by the author, and is a combination of fact & fiction from his own childhood. I giggled and laughed throughout.

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Sycamore Row by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars. Typical Grisham courtroom drama, but with no suspense at all to see who will get the money. . . said best by Patrice Hoffman, another goodreads reviewer: "I stuck around all 400+ pages to see who would win the verdict. I suffered through repetition, boredom, and no suspense at all to see who would get the money. Would it be the crappy offspring or the maid? This is what makes Grisham novels addictive. He paints the courtroom portrait like none other. In the midst of a boring novel he plops down a scene in the courtroom that pulls me in once more."
Grisham can do better. This novel seemed cranked out rehash that is two hundred pages too long, with characters that are very forgettable.I wanted to know the ending but didn't always enjoy the journey.
I don't have even a single favorite quote from this book.

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The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this beautifully written Regency era romance/mystery novel. Reminiscent of Jane Eyre, there appears to be a mysterious stranger (a mad woman in the attic?) who is prone to wandering around late at night. That mystery is solved about halfway through the book but there are many more sinister goings-on which kept me anxiously turning the pages. The character development is excellent--believable and consistent. The various plot threads, with plenty of unexpected twists, are skilfully woven together and the romance is charmingly done. Klassen is known as a "Christian author" who tastefully weaves her message into her fiction without beating you over the head with it. Here is an example:

“Do you not pray, Miss Smallwood?'
She avoided his gaze. 'No.'
'God is speaking to you every day,' he said softly. 'You might return the favor.'
She raised her chin. 'I don't hear Him.'
'Do you listen?'
She looked at him, clearly offended, then turned away again. 'I used to pray, until I found God was not listening, at least not to my prayers.'
...[He] heard the inner voice of caution but barreled ahead. 'He was listening. But He doesn't always answer the way we would like Him to.”

Downtown Abbey fans along with readers who love Jane Austen and Daphne du Maurier, will enjoy this entertaining book.

More favorite quotes:
“We all of us die, Miss Smallwood,' he interrupted. 'But we don't all of us make our lives count for something. How much better to die saving another soul than to stand safe on shore and do nothing while others perish?”
"Thunder and turf!"
“Make your life count, Henry David Weston. For when you reach the end of your days, you will not look back and wish you'd garnered more money, or power, or fame. You will look back and wish that you had been a better parent, spouse, friend, and Christian. And you will wish for just a little more time with those you love.”

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Sarah (Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Because this is the story of one of my favorite heroines I feel like I should give this a better rating, but a 3 star "liked it" is the best I can do. It is well researched and interesting, but not entertaining. I didn't love the writing, in part because the dialog is, well...lacking, as is the one-dimensional character development. Somehow these wonderful characters were not "fleshed out." I feel he did a better job with Rebekah. I very much enjoyed reading his "afterword."
Favorite quotes:
“Faith doesn't mean you never doubt. It only means you never act upon your doubts.”
“Sometimes happiness consists of finding the right balance of misery.”

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Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very funny book by a great stand up comedian. Parents of young children will especially enjoy it.

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A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed her earlier books far more than this. The characters are well drawn and believable. The descriptions are excellent. But the story is not tight, with an ending that seems unfinished.

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Mr. Churchill's Secretary: A Novel by Susan Elia MacNeal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun read: The plot moves along quickly and is engaging. This is obviously the introduction for a series of war time thrillers with Maggie as the girl who saves England with her intelligence and pluck. I also read #2 in the series but it was mot as good.

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The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful book about small town life and hidden stories waiting to be uncovered. The quirky characters, the 1938 Great Depression setting West Virginia, and the intertwined stories made this a difficult book to put down. Good insights regarding the "truths/lies" of both written and oral history and the importance of loyalty and forgiveness. Anne Barrows is the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society which I also loved. I listened to the full-cast audio version which is very well done.

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The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a moving memoir of Leon Leyson about his 5 years, from age 12 to age 17, in Poland, and Germany, during the Holocaust. With thanks to Oskar Schindler he survived the horrors that killed six million Jews. He did not share his experiences until the movie, “Schindler’s List,” was released in the mid 1990’s. His narration of events is straightforward without the gruesome details of other Holocaust stories. From the publisher: “It is the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s list child. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson’s telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever read.” I highly recommend this short narrative as an appropriate YA read for ages 12 - adult. The audio version is excellent.

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The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is no wonder this won a Pulitzer Prize as this is a great novel with a unique, and beautiful prose style, using language I loved. That style was perfectly matched to the whole setting, like it was too cold to get out a long sentence or even communicate clearly. I felt the cold, felt the bite and the loneliness, and the way that self-reliance is required and how community can be a vital part of that life at the same time. A lot of big ideas in those little sentences, those strange interactions. It felt ragged and rugged, and constructed without being artificial.

Each of the characters were 3D real and subtly endearing. They felt genuine to the place and time, and while they are not the typical character we encounter in mainstream suburbia, they are familiar enough to echo those living close to the land and sea.
The main character grew and changed from the inside out, learning to leave behind the wreckage and make something beautiful. I enjoyed the character relationships a lot, and I loved what the book revealed about the Newfoundland culture.

The book has great drama, a good deal of humor. . . dark humor at times, but humor nonetheless. Mystery, too. The reader is allowed to unravel these mysteries, one by one. And of course there is romance. The book is a gem which I highly recommend.


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The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Tedious teen love triangle. Unlikeable main character. Simple writing. Random conclusion. Blah....

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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Historical fiction, this is a well-researched story based on the actual lives of two sisters during WWII in Nazi occupied France. One sister, a gutsy and determined extrovert, is deeply involved with the underground resistance movement, first as a courier delivering secret tracts, messages and documents, then as a guide helping downed pilots and injured soldiers escape from Belgium, through France over the rugged Pyrenees Mountains to safety in Spain. The other sister, a timid and fearful introvert, is struggling with the moral ambiguities of doing what is necessary for herself and her child to survive the horrors of war vs. doing what is right.
The first sister, Isabelle (in real life, Andrée de Jongh), made more than 30 double crossings, on foot, escorting 116 evaders, including more than 80 aircrew,until she was captured and sent to Mauthausen and Ravensbruck concentration camps where she spent two years before the end of the war.

Her sister, established a secret refuge for Jewish children who would otherwise, if found, have been sent to concentration camps. It is also about the strained relationship between these two sisters and their father. Both women were heroes in my estimation. Isabelle's character is based on the late Andrée de Jongh (1916-2007), an amazing woman who repeatedly risked her life helping British and American servicemen escape on foot from Nazi-occupied Belgium and France. To read more about the woman herself go here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Favorite quotes:
“Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.”

“If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.

“I found myself consumed with a single, overwhelming question, as relevant today as it was seventy years ago: When would I, as a wife and mother, risk my life — and more important, my child's life — to save a stranger? . . . which is worse: The fear of the risk, or the fear of letting children grow up in a world where good people do nothing to stop evil?"


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When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful book with engaging, believable characters. It's a story of redemption, hope, love, forgiveness, and dedication. A bit predictable but a compelling read nonetheless. It earns kudos for its wholesomeness. Audio book.

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Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just great storytelling-----about a group of high school friends and the changes in their relationships as they get older. It is a sentimental and poignant story about ordinary people in ordinary lives made extraordinary in the telling.

Told in interesting first-person narratives of each major character addressing the reader as “you” which lends itself to an intimate, confessional relationship between character and reader. These characters are multidimensional and every detail, the time, location and events of the story are finely wrought and realized.

In the end, Butler manages to say important things about growing up and what that means and maybe about America itself.

Audio Version is great - performance of the readers is just very enjoyable.

Favorite quote:
" I tell my children when you are caught in a lie, or when you do something wrong, just STOP. Don't make excuses. Don't keep talking. Don't try to explain yourself. Just own up to what you've done wrong. when you do that, things inevitably work out better. You LOOK and FEEL better. More likely than not, you also catch the other person off guard."

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The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This excellent stage play is based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, England. Before he took the case, the barrister who was to represent him subjected the boy to questioning to test his story, only accepting once he had satisfied himself of the boy's innocence.

The theme of the lawsuit was "Let Right be Done" which recognizes the operative principle that what is legal does not mean it is right.
If Sir Robert Morton were to appear in the courts today I wonder if his ringing cry for right would move the hardened hearts of the justice
system.

Favorite quote(s):
Sir Robert Morton
“I have a point of order, Mr. Speaker. . . I will not yield. . .You shall not side with the great against the powerless. . . Have you heard those words, gentlemen? Do you recognize their source? From that same source I add this injunction. It is this: what you do to the least of them you do to me.”



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