Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

I finished this late last night as book 3 in my quest for 31 books this month, but it was too late to write the review. 

Also, thank you for all the birthday wishes!

I was a little hesitant to read this after Nine Perfect Strangers.  I was worried I'd figure out the plot twist very early on.  But, a friend said I would really like this murder mystery.

And I really did!  The ending was definitely NOT where I thought the plot was going and whodunit was not who I thought.

Joy and Stan have been married 60 years, raised 4 children, and ran a successful tennis lesson school in Australia and are now retired.  Behind the facade though, things are not as rosy.  Each of their adult children is "failing at life"--3 ending marriages/engagements, lack of meaningful work, multiple mental health issues without treatment, etc.  Joy and Stan, used to go, go, go are bored stiff.  One day a woman in tattered clothing, bruised and bloody, shows up at their door.  Joy and Stan relish in having a new young woman to take care of, but their children are wary and jealous.

Then Joy disappears.  She sends a disjointed text to her children, then silence, her phone left behind.  

As one would expect, her husband is the prime suspect in her murder. 

I don't want to spoil too much of the plot, since their is a rather big plot twist!

I will be putting this on display with our new books shortly.

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.    

Let Me Fly by Sabra Waldfogel

This is Book #2 of Book a Day January

Let Me Fly is the sequel to Sister of Mine, which I reviewed last summer.  It is the Teachers and Friends Book Club selection for January.  We all felt Sister of Mine ended with too big a thud to not read the sequel and find out what happens.

Adelaide, daughter of a Jewish slaveowner, and her half-sister/former slave Rachel share a plantation owned by Adelaide's absent husband/Rachel's former lover Henry along with their children, who are both half-siblings and cousins.  They run a school for children who are former slaves or the children of those who were, along with a few poor white children.  

I have the strong suspicion this is written with the sole intent of wanting to be picked up as a serial on something like Netflix or Disney+.  The first book just ENDS and felt like a telenovella or soap.  This one even more so.  

Henry moves to Atlanta and returns to clothing.  It is strongly hinted he might be gay, further complicating things.  Adelaide falls in love with Lewis Hart, a man charged with assisting former slaves get on their feet, despite efforts of white men in the area. Rachel is conflicted and one thinks she will end up with a young black lawyer Daniel Periera (we never find out because the book just ENDS).  Several of the former slaves' stories are woven in like Charlie's, even the women's father Mordecai makes an appearance. 

I don't know what to make of it.  I checked the author's site, and there is no book #3 listed.  But I don't see how you can just END a second book still without wrapping up the loose ends!

I do have 2 Book Club members who want to borrow my copy.  Once we've met (at Bear's, because GA = barbecue!), I will add it to our collection. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely mine. 

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Happy New Year! This is Book #1 of 2023.

A few years ago, I did Book a Day January.  I have been in an absolute FUNK lately, and I've decided to dedicate some time daily to reading for me. I'm not sure I can actually meet that goal, but it's a goal nonetheless. The State of CT has implemented a new Native American Indian history component to U.S. History curricula.  As such, I've really been looking for materials to support my teachers in this endeavor.  I found a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card in my bag, and since it was a total surprise, I decided to spend it on my kids and the WHHS Library! Thus...

Rita is a forensic investigation photographer in Albuquerque.  She is the best in her field.  What her colleagues do not know is the reason she spots things others miss is because she can see the spirits of those who have died.  The victims of crimes often tell her where to find evidence, how they died, or where a murder weapon is stashed. Rita is part Navajo and spent much of her childhood in the care of her grandmother on the reservation.  Navajo do not speak of the dead, so her choice of career is seen as bizarre.  Rumors of her ability follow her whenever she returns home, despite her never charging or using her powers for anything but good; it leads to her being ostracized.  In addition, her location means a intersection of Navajo beliefs and Mexican-American Catholicism meets mysticism.  At work, her heritage is often fodder for "the old boys' club" so called "locker room" jokes, even though she has saved many of their cases.  

This is a whodunit/thriller mystery, so I don't want to spoil too much about the plot, but Rita stumbles onto a dirty cop and drug cartel killing anyone in their way.  

While I liked it, I did struggle sometimes to figure out if a living character or ghost was speaking.  There were definite similarities to Tigers, Not Daughters and movies like The Sixth Sense and Stir of Echoes.

I'll put this out on our new book display when we return to school.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely mine.

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Hello!  I know it's been a super long time since I've done a review, but it has been bonkers here in these parts, as most of you know.  I've been hard pressed to find the time to actually get this review typed. And, well, we know the connectivity issues have been multiplying exponentially.  Unrelated, I've decided to stop video reviews due to low viewership numbers.  

This novel is the Teachers and Friends Book Club choice for our wreath-making party in early December, chosen by Mrs. Tirollo who is over at Mackrille.  I find it very intriguing that both of my recent choices, (Verity and Tigers Not Daughters), Amy wasn't a fan.  And now I disliked her book.  Strange since we're actually quite alike!  

Now, this was readable for sure, but I struggled with the premise.  I felt I had read the overarching plot point before in Denton Little's Death Date: everyone now knows when they're going to die.  Unlike Denton, this is super serious (a reminder of my review of Denton: I nearly peed myself laughing).  Instead of a notification of a date, everyone gets a string with their life expectancy time.  Longer lives to be older and shorter dies younger.   

This book examines panic and mass hysteria on a global scale, and prejudice against those who are different (should short-string people be allowed to serve in the military? Adopt children? Etc.). Familial relationships are tested, internalized victimhood is explored, and there is way too much "six degrees of separation"-esque neatly tying up of everyone's story in a bow at the end.  There were glaring plot holes that I was angry were not addressed, and I found most of the characters whiny.  

Would this be a great choice from a psychology or philosophy perspective? Yes. A good companion read to The Crucible? Definitely. Even a medical ethics course could find this useful for discussion (example, age to start testing for the BRCA gene).

While I didn't hate it, it's not something I'd recommend widely.

A reminder than any opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. Woychowski.   

   

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Hello there!  Welcome to the first review of the 22-23 school year!  

This was the Teacher's Book Club selection for August, but due to all the crazy of back to school, we didn't meet until last night. 

Lenni is 17 and Margot is 83.  They are both terminal (cancer and heart respectively) and meet in a hospital art therapy class.  They decide to paint their collective 100 years to tell their lives stories.  If you've followed this blog for a bit, you know we try to match the restaurant to the setting or theme or characters.  So, we decided to do a paint night.  A BIG shout out to Picasso Paints in West Haven for hosting us.  Darcy created a painting that resembled the book cover and led us through creating our own.  It was a lot of fun and definitely not something I would've done on my own.  

This was also not a book I would have chosen on my own, which is part of the beauty of a book club.  It is a really beautiful story of friendship and explores history through Margot's life experiences and the realm of the childhood cancer patient through Lenni's.  Lenni does pass away, but the reader does not know Margot's fate after her heart surgery.  I like to think she survives, gets on a plane, and flies to find her true love.  

One of the discussion questions Mrs. Howland (who chose this book and moderated) asked was "if you were going to paint your life's most important moment, what would it be?"  For me, the birth of my son would of course be first followed by my wedding day.  

Find this on display with our new books (all donated by me or fundraised as our actual book order hasn't arrived yet) soon. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

I was a huge iCarly fan.  I absolutely loved Sam Puckett.  I cried when the series ended, and sadly hated the spinoff Sam and Cat.  I was surprised when Jennette McCurdy seemed to disappear off the face of the planet (apparently there was a short lived Netflix or Hulu or some other streaming service series I did not know about).  She deleted all her past tweets and other social media posts.  I figured she'd gone off to get married and have kids and lead a normal non-celebrity life like many former child stars.  Boy was I wrong... 

I pre-ordered this the first day I could.  McCurdy's mother died in 2013 and this wasn't published until this year.  I read previews it was a tough one, with a lot of trauma and revelations that were going to be difficult to hear, as both a mother and a former fan.  

These analyses were correct and then some.  I threw up reading this. 

McCurdy's mother was an abusive...I don't even have the words.  Verbal, physical, sexual abuse occurred until McCurdy was 17.  On top of that, and although she does not name him, it is clear McCurdy was also being sexually abused by iCarly's creator and at least one crew member.  She battles anorexia, bulimia, and alcoholism.  Her boyfriend has a break with reality and she learns the man she loved as a Dad is not her biological father.  After her mother's death from cancer, her grandmother takes over with verbal abuse.  This was heart (and gut) wrenching.

I loved Sam, but I never considered the actress portraying her.  I never considered what a child actor might be dealing with in order to earn and keep such a coveted role.  I hate McCurdy's mother for her.  It is clear now that when "Sam" talked about her mother with such hatred, Jennette McCurdy wasn't acting.

Hard to believe, but teachers head back next week!  I'll be in for set up probably Wednesday, PD Thursday, staff meetings Friday.  See all of you on the 29th!

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog and video/audio versions of it are solely those of Mrs. W. 

Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel

Hello there!  I am just back from a wonderful week in Barbados!  It was amazing! 

This is the teachers and friends book club selection for this month.  It was chosen by a music teacher in our group, but not Ms. M. I took it as my reading material on the plane.  However, I STRUGGLED!  I was only able to get through three chapters on a five hour flight. On the return flight, I only got in another two.  This was a ROUGH start.  I texted Ms. M. and she too was on Chapter 6.  We did something I've never done before--read together and motivated each other by text.  We were able to talk through some points and keep each other going.  I have to say the book gets much better after section 1.  I felt like the author was trying to figure out exactly where she wanted to go and didn't have a clear idea until 7 or so chapters in.  From there, I was satisfied with the plot.  Until it just ended.  Like, THUD.  Turns out this is book 1 of a duology.  And it just, ends.  Lots of loose threads.  

The story centers around a Jewish immigrant plantation owner's two daughters: his proper societal lady Adelaide and her slave Rachel.  Adelaide's father Mordecai is a shrewd businessman who seems to forget his ancestors were slaves in Egypt in order to sell more cotton.  Adelaide learns she and Rachel are sisters, and she loves her as one, even teaching Rachel to read.  Rosa, Adelaide's mother hates Rachel as a constant reminder of her husband's unfaithfulness, but Mordecai will not sell her.  

Adelaide, a free spirit, ruins her engagement to the son of her father's business partner.  Her mother will only allow a Jewish marriage, so she is married off to a tailor with a hefty loan from Mordecai to start his own plantation.  Henry struggles with being a slave owner and business in general.  Henry and Rachel fall in love, and the terrible cycle repeats itself of a child born in slavery to a white father.  

Then The Civil War erupts.  

I don't want to spoil too much more, although I really don't know how the story ends, since the plot simply ends with much more to wrap up.  We will be discussing this tonight at Katz, as we continue to match plot/characters with restaurant.  Later, we're going to see the movie version of Where The Crawdads Sing. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely mine.