Swimming to Elba by Silvia Avallone

This story centers around two best friends: Anna and Francesca. Each of them have a bad home life, but in different ways; Anna's father goes missing for days/weeks/months at a time and has run ins with law enforcement, while Francesca's father abuses her and her mother. They have grown up together and at the age of 13 (going on 14) they are exploring the power their newfound curves give them. Suddenly, they have a falling out and the girls' lives go in different directions. Anna has her first boyfriend, while Francesca becomes cold and friends with a lonely girl named Lisa, but only to bully her. They see each other around town, but neither are brave enough to reach out to the other until tragic accidents occur.

I had high hopes for this book. It's set in Italy and the premise of the story was that they were going to go to Elba (which is a ferry ride away from where they live) to leave their lives in Piombino and each pursue their dreams, but it seemed to fall flat and incorporate too much of the other characters' lives.

Also, I think I am officially waving the white flag for my creative book goals for the year, since I'm now three months behind and do not have time in the foreseeable future to read those books on top of my book club books. The motivation (and time) is just not there.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Even though this book is short, weighing in at about ~160 pages, it felt long and took me a week to read. This was another book for a different Meetup group. The book is divided into two parts and the first part centers around the main character, Tony, and his friends in college. Six pages into it, the word pretentious was flashing in my mind because just reading it and seeing these young men act like know-it-alls because they were in college was frustrating. Anyway, Tony dates this girl Veronica, who ends up to be crazy and a tease, and she dumps Tony to go out with his friend Adrian, who is the smartest out of all the friends and is practically revered by everybody. But he then abruptly commits suicide. In part two, Tony some thirty or so years later, receives notice that Veronica's mother had past and left him five hundred pounds and Adrian's diary. However, when he goes to pick up what is willed to him, they do not have the diary because Veronica has it. Tony does not know how to contact her, so he gets in touch with Veronica's brother who gives him the contact information he needs. When he does finally contact Veronica, she plays coy (still playing mind games with him) and tells him that she burned the diary, but gave him a copy of a page of it. He is perplexed and intrigued and continues to pursue contacting her and she finally reveals a long-held secret at the end of the book.

Talking about this book was more interesting than reading it. I do not consider myself a deep reader, but others in the Meetup are and said how there was so much symbolism and philosophy sprinkled throughout the text. I think I did understand it better after the Meetup, but that still did not make it an enjoyable read.

Blame by Michelle Huneven

Blame was a book for one of my Meetup groups. It's about a lady named Patsy who is a professor at a college and has a drinking problem. One day, she wakes up in jail (again) after having too much to drink (again), but this time, something's different. The police tell her that she hit and killed a woman and her daughter while pulling into her driveway. She goes on to serve four years in prison and talks about her experiences there and finding AA. After she gets out, she struggles to piece her life back together again, but meets Cal, a man many years her senior who woos her (and almost anyone) instantly. Now, the book jacket plainly alludes to the fact that it was not Patsy who killed the people in her driveway, but someone else. The whole time, the reader knows this, and it is admirable to see Patsy change her life so drastically when it is predicated on this murder, but also sad to see how much Patsy tortures herself over their (accidental) death. Overall, I did not enjoy this book and it was frustrating at times to read because Huneven never used quotations marks. Not once! So some dialogue it was hard to follow who was saying what to whom.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

This book was my choice for one of the Meetup groups I am part of. The story is told from the point of view of 14 year old June and is set in 1987. Her beloved uncle Finn dies young and "unexpectedly" and there is a man at the funeral that her family avoids. June has an older sister named Greta who seems to know everything before June does, but doesn't try to explain what is going on to her. Eventually, June finds out that Finn had AIDS and the mystery man is Toby, Finn's longtime boyfriend. June finds out that not all initial perceptions of people or situations is true, and learns more about Toby as they bond together over their shared loss of Finn.

Recommendations:
If you liked Eleanor & Park because of the 80s references.
If you liked The Death of Bees or The Silver Star because of the sisters' relationship.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I read this book for a Meetup that I go to. I had never read anything by Khaled Hosseini before and after this book, I don't think I ever will. That is not to say the book is bad; instead, it is an extremely well-thought out book that keeps to it's title. However, I was very distracted through the whole book because I was trying to figure out what the plot was, and by the end when you actually find out what the plot really is, it was kind of an "oh..." moment. This book involves so many characters and places in the world that is it very hard to describe what it is about since no one single character matters more than the others. If you enjoy books that make you think for days afterwards, this is the book for you.

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

I really enjoyed Walls' Glass Castle and Half-Broke Horses books, so I knew I had to read this as soon as possible. I really enjoyed the story! It centers around Bean and her older sister Liz moving from California to Virginia after their mother abandons them in California when Bean discovers she is lying about a boyfriend. After their move, they take on jobs working for Jerry Maddox, known to most in the town as a bully. He sets up bank accounts for them, but when Liz goes to the bank to withdraw money, she discovers he had moved the money to T-bills without her permission. She goes to him, demanding the money, which leads to an altercation and a court case against Jerry.

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

Love Anthony revolves around two women in Nantucket. One, Olivia, had an autistic son named Anthony who passed away two years prior. The other, Beth, finds out her husband is cheating on her with a woman he works with. They are drawn together by autism: Olivia by her son, and Beth with her rediscovered creative writing. The intersection of their stories seems entirely unrealistic, but if you can divest yourself of reality, you would be able to enjoy it.

This book was for my Portland Book Club for 20-Something Women Meetup group.

The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan

I had previously read Maine by Sullivan and was mildly impressed by it. When I heard about this book, it sounded like a lot more interesting of a plot line and it did not let me down. The story spans over fifty years, from the beginnings of the tagline "A Diamond Is Forever," to the application to pro-marriage, anti-marriage, affairing, struggling couples. There are four couples featured throughout the book, plus Frances Gerety, who came up with the line. One couple has been married for thirty years and find out that their son has left his wife for another woman. A second couple lives in Europe and she leaves her husband for her lover. The third couple struggles to make ends meet, but love each other dearly. And the final couple doesn't believe in marriage. The story revolves around how diamonds are the connecting thread through all of the couples.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

This story takes places during the entirety of a dinner between two couples: brothers and their wives to discuss an event that their sons took part in. As dinner goes on, the story unfolds of what happened one night and what can be done to remedy it. Each couple has their own idea for what can be done to solve it, but one couple holds the final say.

When I put this book on hold, it was mainly out of curiosity to see how far someone could take a book over what can reasonably happen in the course of 90 minutes. Other books, such as Gone with the Wind, take place over years and it was interesting to see someone flesh out a complete story over the course of 300 pages and how Koch wove the story together.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell

I really enjoyed this book, I thought it was very unique. Bonus: the author is from England, so I had to infer some of the things she was talking about.

The story is told from three points of view: Marnie, Nelly, and Lennie.  Marnie and Nelly are sisters and Lennie is the neighbor next door. Together, they tell the story of Marnie and Nelly's father being murdered by Nelly and later their mother being found hung (suicide) in their shed. This occurs during winter and with the girls being 13 and 15 and Marnie one year from being considered an adult and able to take care of them both, they have to keep of the facade that their parents went on vacation. Meanwhile, they bury them in the backyard and plant lavender bushes on top of their graves to help camouflage what happened. To keep their secret alive, they have to deal with their maternal grandfather looking for his daughter, their father's drug supplier wanting money, and the school officials poking around. Lennie keeps an eye on the girls and eventually they end up taking care of each other. But their lies keep building and Nelly begins to crack. Can they hold it together until Marnie turns 16?

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

This book was supposed to be one of the best books of last year, so I was really looking forward to reading it. I didn't quite know what to expect, but I have concluded that it is a very character-driven book, very much like Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan. There isn't much to plot, but it does have more than Maine did. The story goes that there is an ill American actress who goes to stay in a hotel on the Italian coast. The innkeeper there, Pasquale, is immediately taken by her. The story hops around a great deal. One chapter will be 1962 Italy, the next is present day LA, then it will be 1990s Europe. It is easy to stay caught up, but it was not much of a page turner and I didn't find the characters that great or memorable. However, Jess Walter is from Spokane, so I did enjoy the Washington references.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1) by Ransom Riggs

I really enjoyed this story. I actually finished it a couple of weeks ago, but have been tardy in posting my review... Anyway, it is about a boy named Jacob that seems most ordinary, but has a slightly obsessed grandfather who has a stockpile of weapons and believes that some sort of creatures are after him. Jacob knows of his grandfather's tall tales about when he lived in Wales and the people he knew and the adventures he went on. But then one day, his grandfather is drug to the forest behind his home and killed. Jacob witnesses the murder and sees that it is the same sort of creature that his grandfather always talked about, and is struck with horror. Jacob slips into a depression and his parents send him to a psychiatrist who suggests that he go to Wales to see if the rest of his grandfather's stories were true, especially the one about a house on a hill run by a Miss Peregrine. He and his father go to Wales on what is assumed to be a witch hunt, but Jacob soon learns the truth of his grandfather, Miss Peregrine, and the creatures that killed him. Unfortunately, Miss Peregrine and her wards are being saught by the creatures and Jacob is the only one that can help him. Will he choose to stay with Miss Peregrine and her wards or return to America with his father? Lately, I have been itching to go on a trip or adventure, and this book helped to satisfy those desires.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Sorry for my long absence, but it took that long to read this behemoth of a book! Behemoth meaning 925 pages. This story is told from two (and three, but mainly two) points of view. There is Tengo, a 30 year old cram school teacher, and then you have Aomame (literally meaning "green peas," an unusual name), a 30 year old fitness instructor. They are brought into the world of 1Q84 under odd circumstances, with the easiest identifiable characteristic being two moons in the sky. Tengo, in addition to being a teacher, also is a writer on the side. His publisher go-to person gets in contact with him and wants him to rewrite a book called Air Chrysalis, originally written by the 17 year old Fuki-Eri about things that are assumed to be fictional. But as time goes on, things that occurred in the book actually happen in the world of 1Q84 (like the two moons). Aomame, at the same time, has a side job in addition to martial arts instructing: she kills gentlemen who abuse their wives or girlfriends. An rich, elderly student in her class (known only as the dowanger) finds this out through extensive research and commissions Aomame under false pretenses to help her learn more about self-protection and eventually appeals to Aomame to kill a man known in a religious commune (Sakigake) as Leader. The dowanger is also a proponent of abused females and has a safe house on her property. One day, she finds a girl who had obviously been sexually abused by Leader, and it is at this point that she commissions Aomame to be a part of an elaborate rouse to murder him. Somehow, Tengo and Aomame are linked (I won't give it away) and must find each other so they can both escape this world known as 1Q84, but everything works against them. Will they find each other? Even if they did, can they escape 1Q84?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is an overly long, drawn-out tale about two children--a boy and a girl--being chosen to outdo the other with the power of magic while being contained within the confines of a circus that is open only at night. Their magic teachers decide this when Celia is six years old and Marco fourteen. Of course, when they both are at the circus, they fall in love, and then are distraught to discover that the winner of this contest of sorts is decided by one of them dying in one way or another (not magic inflicted by either party). It gets very convoluted and confusing, with each chapter jumping between locations and times. It made me want to pull out my hair at points because I did not have a clue what was going on, and so many characters are involved that by the end I just had to read it and go with the flow and assume I knew who the author was chattering on and on about. This book would have been much better if it had been more tightly written, perhaps cutting 100 pages from its girth (387 pages). There are of course a myriad of sub-plots and whatnot, but something I kept thinking of while reading this was Anne of Green Gables when it is said that it is better to use short words than long ones.

Okay, done whining, but I would definitely put this in the same bin as Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

I had a lot more hope for this book when I started it. It is essentially plotless, but is told in an interesting, winding way that draws you in and makes you really understand and relate to the characters...or know relatives who resemble them almost TOO closely. So the story goes that Alice, the matriarch, owns a house in Maine, a house that her husband won on a $50 bet. The husband, Daniel, died ten years prior to the telling of this story. Alice and Daniel had three children, two of who are mentioned significantly: Kathleen and Pat. Kathleen lives in California on her "farm" (a worm farm) with her boyfriend of ten years, Arlo. She has a daughter, Maggie, who lives in New York and is recently impregnated by her on-again, off-again loser boyfriend. Summer comes, and Maggie goes to the house in Maine to figure out life, and tells both Kathleen and Loser Boyfriend in an email she is preggo. In the meantime, Kathleen flies out to "talk some sense into her" aka have an abortion (which she doesn't have), and Loser Boyfriend decides to not be involved. While Kathleen is plotting to go to Maine, Ann Marie (Pat's wife) shows up with dollhouse-making supplies in tow. She has a crush on Steve Brewer, and eventually accidentally makes a drunken move on him in Maine on the Fourth of July. There is a whole lot of other things that happen, like finding out about Alice's sister's death...in the end, all four of the women have secrets, except maybe Kathleen, since it is plain she was not a great mother. I wouldn't really recommend...unless you have nothing better to read, I suppose. But it is definitely intricately written, and well-done, at that.