Books read in July & August

I meant to do a July book recap but realize that I never did. So, I decided to combine two months' worth- July and August.

The Devil and Webster- Jean Hanff Korelitz- Webster is a small, progressive, almost on par with Ivy League schools college on the East Coast. Its president is a woman who was an activist when she was younger and is now proudly serving her alma mater. The student body is known for protesting perceived social injustices- something for which the president is proud as she engaged in similar protests when she was younger. Soon a protest threatens to tear the school apart. A popular professor is denied tenure and the students can.not.handle.it. The professor is black and immediately the students insist that tenure denial is an overt act of racism and proof of systemic problems- including the president- within the college. The president knows that the denial of tenure is not based on racism- Webster would be the last college to engage in so blatant racism- but rather a plagiarism charge against the professor. However, she is banned by confidentially to not reveal the true cause of the denial of tenure. The book is wonderfully written- it is that rare combination of being character driven yet having an arresting plot as well.  I look forward to reading more from this author.

The Midnight Library- Matt Haig- set in England this tells the story of a young women so despondent with her lonely existence and remorse at decisions she's made that she decides to end her life. However, her life does not end; rather, she is transported to a "library" wherein she can chose to redo or relive certain choices that she made when she was younger to see how her life would be different if she had chosen differently. The book was good but maybe not quite as good as all the hype that I heard about it? I am uncertain if I will read any other of his books.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Both by Tom Sawyer and are considered books for youths. I had never read anything by Tom Sawyer and read these books because I was headed to see my brother in western IL and we planned to visit Hannibal, MO, Sawyer’s hometown and see the Mighty Mississippi. The Mississippi River is a prominent component of HF while caves play a more prominent role in TS. Both books feature boys at the cusp of adolescence- full of energy and certain that adventure awaits if not for the confines of home, church and school. I liked the books but not as much as I thought I would considering that they are classics. 

First Comes Love- Emily Giffin- a family is grieving the loss of a son and brother when he was in medical student. The book focuses mostly on the relationship of the sisters of the deceased. One feels immense guilt for the accident and one seems bitter and miserable. While I like Emily Giffen’s writing style, this was definitely not one of my favorites by her.  

One by One- Ruth Ware- Set in the French Alps this whodunit was so reminiscent of another book by the same author that I immediately knew whodidit. While the details of the plot was not the same as the other book, the overarching outline of the book was nearly identical. In this book, executives from a tech start up go to a retreat in a remote but gorgeous small sky resort in the mountains. An avalanche occurs and murders occur in succession. I like the author's writing and enjoyed the book but was quite shocked by the similarities of this book another one of hers. 

The Husband's Secret- Liane Moriarty- A woman discovers that her husband has kept a huge secret from her for years.  Before the book is halfway over, we find out what the secret is- the husband inadvertently committed a terrible crime, covered it up, and gotten away with it. With the secret exposed to them the question of what to do about it comprises the rest of the book. The book is engrossingly written yet sad, yet ending probably the best way it could  

The Collector- John Fowles- set in London in 1963, the eponymous collector is a lonely, deranged young man who collects butterflies- the more exotic the better. Soon he ups his collection ante and kidnaps a beautiful art student keeping her captive in the basement of his house. The book is depressing- there is no happy ending.  Not my favorite though I didn't dislike the author's writing style. I can't decide if I will read more by the author or not. 

All He Ever Wanted- Anita Shreve- set in a small college town in New England the story takes place in the 19th century and is told in first person narrative in flashback by the main male character, a college professor. The professor falls in love at first sight with a young woman and they eventually marry. The marriage is not a good one, unfortunately and ends when a desperate, despicable act by the husband has terrible repercussions for everyone in the book. I enjoyed the book not for its pleasant story lines but because of the author’s ability to write so well in the voice of a man in the 1800's- not that I 100% know what that is but 19th century literature is one of my favorites and the voice of the man sounded like it could have been written in the 1800's. Just good writing even though the main story line- an unhappy marriage- was depressing. 

The Dearly Beloved- Cara Wall- set in New York in the 1960's it tells the story of two ministers of one church (they were co-pastors) and their wives. The story covers their past and present and is about their "faith," friendship, love, grief- lots of themes. I put "faith" in parenthesis because while the characters struggled with faith, it was a faith of believing in God in the first place. There was little to no mention of Bible, nothing of salvation, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, etc. The book won all kinds of awards and praise but I didn't care for it at all- the writing or the slow plot. Character driven books are normally not an issue for me but this one I did not enjoy. The book did prepare me to be less shocked when the news emerged recently that Harvard's new head chaplain is an atheist so there is that...

All Our Darkest Secrets- Martyn Ford- This was an Amazon First Reads pick. Set in Virginia, the main character is a DEA agent on the cusp of landing a huge drug bust. Unfortunately, he makes an ill fated decision to protect his wife from a crime she committed. Drug lords find out about the cover up (they had bugged his car) and then blackmail the officer into sabotaging the bust. This was a really good book even though... spoiler alert... it does not end happy. 

A Wedding in December- Anita Shreve- College friends meet at one of the friend's home turned hotel for one of their friends' wedding. Some caveats- college was years ago- the characters are not spring chickens, the bride to be is dying of cancer and one of the friends from their original friend group died tragically when they were all in college together which casts a pallor of sadness when they all get together. So lots going on with all of the characters (and that is just scratching the surface!). I liked this character driven book a lot. Obviously liked the author as it was the second of hers I read in a month. 

Frenchmen's Creek- Daphne Du Maurier- A wealthy, bored, English lady escapes her home in London for her husband's country estate. She takes her  two kids and their nanny and revels in the freedom from other bored society members in the city and in the beauty and calm of the natural world around the estate. She learns of a French pirate who is stealing cargo from the ships of wealthy landowners who are her neighbors. Our heroine meets this pirate and guess what? She falls in love with him. It sounds cliche but written with Du Maurier’s skillfull storytelling and erudite prose, I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. 

Leave the World Behind- Rumaan Alam- Set in Long Island, a family from the city has rented a house in the country for a family vacation. The first night they are there, a couple comes to the door claiming to be the owners of the home and saying they have come to the (/their) home because something strange is happening and they're worried. The city lost power, TV stations aren't broadcasting anything, and the internet is down. At first suspicious that the couple that comes to the door are not the real owners (the couple is black in a predominately white area), the family invites the couple in and eventually they realize that the couple is the real owner of the house and that something unknown to them all but extremely frightening has happened or is happening in the world. The book is well written and terrifying as you can almost feel fear overtake them as they realize that something terrible has happened. Poignant especially with the state of affairs today- the debacle in Afghanistan, having to show papers in some areas to be able to attend events & go to restaurants, countries going on complete lockdown when one person tests positive for a disease with an extraordinarily high survival rate.  Many events happening today are stranger than fiction so to read a fictional account of the world going completely haywire hit, unfortunately, close to home even though the particular circumstances in this book have not occurred. 

So those were the books I read in July and August. September's reading is off to a good start...