The Bishop's Wife

Close. Members of book clubs should consider selecting Mette Ivie Harrison’s novel, The Bishop’s Wife. It’s a book that is likely to encourage lively conversation about the characters and the situation. Protagonist Linda Wallheim is happily married to a man serving as a Mormon bishop in a Utah town and is the mother of five sons. When a young wife and mother disappears, Linda becomes involved in trying to figure out what happened. Harrison presents issues of gender and domestic abuse within the context of a small community, especially when there are extremists with clear expectations of acceptable behavior. The pace of the novel is slow, and so much of the narrative seems very ordinary. I enjoyed reading it, mostly because it conveyed a point of view about relationships in a close church community that I found both unfamiliar and interesting. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Bishop’s Wife from amazon.com.

We Should All Be Feminists

Inclusion. The structure of a TED talk requires a presenter to convey messages with efficiency and clarity and in a manner that connects to the live audience. In listening to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TEDx talk, I found myself laughing with the audience at some of her lines, but losing the thread of her argument. Thanks to an adaption of that talk for print with the same title, We Should All Be Feminists, I got to read the talk twice and appreciate even more her careful word selection and the cogency of her point of view. This is a poignant message that would provide ideal material for a conversation starter about gender in schools and in the workplace. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase We Should All Be Feminists from amazon.com.

An Event in Autumn

Retirement. I find that I like to take the Kurt Wallander novels by Henning Mankell in small doses, because I find the gloominess and depression of Wallander to be contagious. The under two hundred pages of An Event in Autumn seemed to me to be just the small dose I could tolerate. I was entertained and felt no contagion from Wallander’s loneliness and overall gloom. In this installment of the series, Wallander is considering retirement from the force, and making a move to the country. Through a colleague, he considers a house that he could afford, and plans to make a purchase offer until he finds the skeletal hand of a corpse in the yard. Retirement plans are placed on pause as Wallander tries to identify the deceased and figure out what happened. Fans of the series are those readers most likely to enjoy reading this short addition to the collection, as are those readers who like brief fiction. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase An Event in Autumn from amazon.com.

A Fine Summer's Day

Run-up. Fans of fictional series often clamor for an expanded backstory about the protagonist. In the seventeenth installment of the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd, those readers are rewarded. In a novel titled, A Fine Summer’s Day, Todd presents Rutledge in 1914 and the run-up to World War I. The title refers to the pleasant day in June when Rutledge is poised to propose marriage. Between that day in June and the guns of war in August, Rutledge doggedly pursues a case that will provide great entertainment both to loyal readers and to anyone who loves crime fiction. Themes of coercion and love for others weave in and out of the narrative and provide a backdrop for the duty of Rutledge to his job and to his country. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase A Fine Summer’s Day from amazon.com.

Suspended Sentences: Three Novellas

Memory. The power of the past over the present can be overwhelming, and it is memory that makes the past immediate. I picked up Patrick Modiano’s novellas after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year. Titled, Suspended Sentences, these novellas present meditations and reflections on the Paris of the past, and the ways in which incomplete memories leave gaps in our experience of the present. Readers who like fiction that sets a mood and offers descriptive atmospheric language are likely to enjoy reading this collection, as are those readers who enjoy fiction that leads to personal reflection, especially about memories of the past. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Suspended Sentences from amazon.com.

Panic in a Suitcase

Odessa. I was enthralled while reading Yelena Akhtiorskaya’s debut novel titled, Panic in a Suitcase. I opened the novel expecting to read another version of the immigrant story of adjusting to life in the United States. This novel is that and so much more. Set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and Odessa, Akhtiorskaya uses carefully selected descriptive prose to make each setting come to life. Her character development displays all the richness and complexity of human behavior. I laughed often at the situations and foibles that she presents. She finds a way to present the strange dimensions of how individuals and families behave in relationships, and draw us into familiarity and differences. I was entertained throughout and impressed by the fine writing. Any reader who enjoys good writing will find something to enjoy in this novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Panic in a Suitcase from amazon.com.

The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

Ted. For those people who absorb information more easily by reading versus listening, the folks who put on TED talks publish some of those in the form of short books. I read Pico Iyer’s book titled, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere. Iyer explores the benefits of sitting still and doing nothing. We spend so much time connected, he relates how being unplugged can be delightful and beneficial. Most readers will be able to read his message in a single sitting. Then the challenge will be what to do next: something or nothing. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Art of Stillness from amazon.com.