The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

Reconciliation. If the world is getting you down, pick up the novel titled, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine, by Alexander McCall Smith. After a few dozen pages, your heart rate and blood pressure will both be lower, and a smile may creep across your face. This novel is the sixteenth installment in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series set in Botswana and featuring Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi. There’s an interesting case, and several forms of reconciliation that occur through the course of these pages. Here’s one of my favorite quotes (p.43): “The trouble with the world today, she thought, was that people were not prepared to stand up to bad behavior. They looked away, they pretended they had not seen anything, and hardly anybody bothered to deal with badly behaved children, with the result that they could run wild, could go on the rampage unchecked.” After you finish the novel, refreshed, perhaps reconciled, you will be better prepared for whatever bad behavior is happening in your part of the world. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine from amazon.com.

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty

Identity. Vendela Vida is a very clever writer, and her novel titled The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty, is a creative exploration of the theme of identity. The setup is that a traveler arrives in a foreign country and loses identifying documents. Written in the second person singular, an unusual voice that kept my attention, the ability to slip into a different identity was handled by Vida with great skill. The title comes from a Rumi poem. Readers interested in novels that explore questions about who we are will find a lot to enjoy in this short and finely written novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty from amazon.com.

The Black Widow

Saladin. The latest novel by Daniel Silva to feature art restorer and soon-to-be Mossad chief, Gabriel Allon, is titled, The Black Widow. Fans of the series will be delighted by the continued development of this complex protagonist, and will be thrilled that he is still in the field, not behind a desk. ISIS is the enemy Allon pursues in the form of an adversary called Saladin. Allon convinces a Jewish doctor, Leila Hadawi, to infiltrate ISIS, and he and others train her to pull off this feat. Much of the action in this novel takes place in the United States, which adds to the terror and tension that remain taut throughout this novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Black Widow from amazon.com.

Cold Barrel Zero

Racing. It didn’t take many paragraphs in his novel titled, Cold Barrel Zero, for Matthew Quirk to get my heart racing. Fans of military thrillers will find plenty of black ops action in this novel. Readers who would like an escape from the terror reports almost every day should avoid this novel. Quirk masters plot momentum in this novel, presents interesting characters, and gives readers entertaining twists that will surprise many who are trying to figure out who are the enemies and who are the allies. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Cold Barrel Zero from amazon.com.

The Vegetarian

Dreams. Han Kang’s novel, The Vegetarian, came to my attention after it won the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Having read the book, I now understand why this finely written novel won the prize. Protagonist Yeong-hye has been having dreams of violence and blood, and she attempts to cleanse herself by no longer eating meat. Her refusal to eat meat disrupts many of her relationships as her husband and other family members attempt to control her. Kang explores violence in this novel, from multiple perspectives, as well as the issues of power and control. The images that Kang offers are often disturbing and always powerful. This is an unusual and dark novel, very finely written, and packed with insights about the impact of dreams on reality. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Vegetarian from amazon.com.

The Excellent Lombards

Orchard. As I read Jane Hamilton’s novel, The Excellent Lombards, I felt like I was getting an inside view of two mysterious places: a Wisconsin farm and the mind of a young girl. Hamilton presents an enthusiastic protagonist, Mary Frances “Frankie” Lombard who loves the family orchard, and her extended family. Just as the apples go from blossom to fruit to harvest, Frankie goes from little girl to adolescent to adult. Calling this a coming-of-age novel may not communicate the quality and depth of the finely written prose. Hamilton brings readers to Wisconsin and welcomes us as members of this family, and that happens before we know it, thanks to her great writing skill. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Excellent Lombards from amazon.com.

Miller's Valley

Mimi. Book club members looking for a novel with a huge cast of characters, interesting family relationships and prose that describes the setting with clarity, should consider Anna Quindlen’s novel, Miller’s Valley. Quindlen presents the life of Mimi Miller, whose family has farmed on low lying ground in Pennsylvania for generations. The small town faces dramatic change as the valley will be flooded by the government after the land is taken by eminent domain. The joining of people and the places where we live can make for great reading, and Quindlen drew me into the lives of these people in this place. I was thoroughly entertained by all the ups and downs of their lives, and found Mimi to be the perfect protagonist for this novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Miller’s Valley from amazon.com.