Books I Have Loved 2023
I know we are almost 1/3 of the way into 2024….better late than never!
These are in no particular order….
The Favor by Nora Murphy -> A woman does another woman an unexpected life favor and she recipocates it. What makes this unique - they don’t now each other. Or do they? Do their actions make them bad people? Morally gray plot makes for great book club discussions. 😇😈
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor -> From the time Ajay, one of two main characters, is a child until he is well into adulthood, his life takes unexpected turns which makes him darker and angrier as time passes. This is due in large part to Sunny, the other main character, who takes an interest in Ajay when he is a teenager. Sunny is a man drowning in demons so when he takes Ajay under his wing, it is not necessarily a good thing. This is a long story, 560 pages, that brings you deep into life in modern India. I wanted to read this because I am interested in lives set in other cultures. This did not disappoint. 🇮🇳💰
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson -> Books about two different characters whose lives eventually intersect have become one of my favorite story lines. A teenage girl who has great potential but a difficult personal life and a woman who marries above her economic background struggle to fit into roles and places they aren’t exactly welcomed. This novel was engrossing and you have to read to the very end to understand the connection the two characters have. 🔗
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden -> A new to me author. Millie, living in her car, is desperate for a job and accepts the position of live-in maid with the Winchester’s. Nina Winchester is erratic, her daughter Ceclia is difficult, and Andrew, the husband, is patient and kind. You think you know the story but remember there are always two sides. This reminded me of Gone Girl. The story reads quickly and is the first in a three book series centered around Millie, the main character (The Housemaid’s Secret (2023) and The Housemaid is Watching which will be available in June 2024). 🫢
The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian -> The setting and two female protagonists reminded me of Where the Crawdads Sing - Ada returns to her abusive father after running away to marry a man who leaves her. One night, the father goes to far but Ada is saved by Matilda, a young woman who has her own share of heartache. The two young women slowly form a bond as they learn to work with their circumstances, show fortitude and use their wits to survive and thrive.💪🏼
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen -> I am so HAPPY that she has resumed writing! The ensemble cast of characters who live in an apartment complex and gradually create attachments to one another drew me in. I was rooting for each of them. There is a bit of twist at the end which connect the threads that each of these characters present. This author is known for the magical realism in her writing which is present but not as obvious as it is in her other novels. It took me a bit to get into this story but once I did…. ❤️
Night Road by Kristin Hannah -> It is Kristin Hannah, do I need to say more? This is the story of a mother of twins and it is the story of these twins who befriend the new girl that shows up on the first day of school. All suffer a friendship ending tragedy just before high school graduation which sends the survivors into different directions. This novel broke my heart and put it back together again.😥
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose -> Wow! The plot: a wife who is a well-known successful attorney defends her husband, a struggling writer, after he is accused of killing his mistress. That in itself makes for a gripping read. BUT the very end….she took me in a direction and then yanked me around. One of Us is Dead (2022) is actually next up in my TBR pile. Looking forward to it! ↪️
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger -> His novel gave me a mix of Tom Sawyer and Lost Boys vibes. Living at the Lincoln Indian Training School means living with mean caretakers that commit unspeakable acts on children. One evening a horrific event occurs and the two main characters, orphan brothers Albert and Odie, along with their deaf friend and their favorite teacher’s daughter flee the school. They decided to float down river to the city where the brothers’ aunt lives, hoping she will let them live with her. I enjoyed it more than I thought; it was haunting and redeeming all at the same time. Ordinary Grace (2013) is in my TBR pile. 🛶
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid -> A novel I looked at often but didn’t pick it up. I don’t know what my hesitation was. A famous actress who is notoriously private decides to grant a much coveted interview discussing her life to a very specific journalist. This story is part history of Hollywood, part mystery as Evelyn Hugo, the actress, has a reason she wanted to give her story to Monique, a writer who is struggling with the direction of her life. Intriguing and sad. Definitely a new favorite author - I’ve gifted her books and I have others in my TBR pile.👰♀️👰♀️
Book Review: BURIAL RITES by Hannah Kent
The author, Hannah Kent, imagines the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir who was found guilty, along with two others, and executed (beheaded) for murdering Natan Ketilsson and Pétur Jónsson. The novel is based on a true story that took place in 1828 Iceland; this was the last execution in that country. Through meticulous research and reliance on the country’s strong oral tradition, the author builds a story around what led up to and the reason for the killings.
Agnes is sent to live with the family who occupies the farm in Kornsá while she waits to learn when her execution will take place. Initially, she shares her story, starting from her birth, with Assistant Reverend Tóti who is the religious person she asked to be assigned to her as she prepares herself for execution and, eventually, the family. She tells them that she met Natan, a reputed medicine man/sorcerer and womanizer, at a farm she was working on; he befriended and then seduced her. He asks her to come to his very remote farm, Illugastadir, to be his housekeeper and oversee Sigga, a maidservant already living there. Shortly after she arrives, Agnes begins to realize that Natan hasn’t been truthful with her - not about her role at the farm, Sigga’s relationship to him nor about himself. Natan’s reputed lover, the poet Rosa, shows up one day with her child by Natan on her hip and gives Agnes, albeit not very friendly, a warning about Natan. Their nearest neighbor, Fridrik Sigurdsson, begins to make visits with occasional long periods of stays. He is a 19 year old mean tempered, jealous young man who ends up developing a relationship with Sigga. As the long, bleak Icelandic winter progresses, the relationships shift and become very tense, ultimately culminating in the murders.
The author does an eloquent job painting a bleak, harsh, and lonely picture of life in the northern part of Iceland. She achieves this in large part due to her repetition of images: fires fueled by dung, the constant unpleasant odor of animals and dirty bodies, temperatures so cold that ice forms while characters sleep. Inter dispersed between chapters are copies of correspondence between the various officials in charge of carrying out the punishment. There is such a matter of fact tone to these documents it sends shivers down the spine; that men could talk of putting to death two people so unemotionally has an almost nightmarish quality to it.