Four good Titles

Connie's back with four good suggestions.
We can't keep "The Woman In the Window" in stock.
Enjoy.

You might notice, for the 2^nd time in a row I have a non-fiction listed. Hmm maybe a trend. Probably not, but this one worth the pick-up.

 

My apologies to those of you who read and loved …Wolves. Let us agree to disagree.

 

The History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund  (out 11.07)

If you eliminated the stories here of Linda at 25 and 36, this would be a YA read. And one of those reads that you shake your head while reading realizing how messed up parents can result in a messed up a child. At times I became annoyed with Linda, until I acknowledged that she’s supposed to be a teenager or later as an emotionally damaged adult.  14 yr. old Linda lives with her exhippie parents in what had been a commune in northern Minnesota – no indoor plumbing and limited electricity. She becomes the babysitter for a family where she finally feels like she belongs only to be swept up in their non-conforming life. Oh and along the way she has a teacher accused of child pornography and having sex with a minor. Ya, that kind of read.

(Interestingly I absolutely loved the next middle grade book I picked up after read and it also had an idiot parent. For heaven’s sake, maybe there should be a test or at least a class for perspective parents though I probably would have failed)

 

Bobby Kennedy a Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews  (out 10.31)

I am neither a big biography reader nor a big political reader, but assigned for book club I picked this up. Fascinating.  While having lived through almost all of the period covered, my parents either didn’t talk about politics or watch on television or I was oblivious (probably the later). One criticism I read of the book is that is deals so much with Jack (John), but it would be impossible to tell Bobby’s story any other was as he was so invested in Jack’s career. I hope there’s not a quiz as there’s no way I remember all the characters (and some were very much characters), back room /behind the scenes conversations, and wheeling & dealing that occurred. But I learned (relearned) so much. And amazing how much in Washington hasn’t changed – maybe the names, but still the same. A really good read. 

 

White Chrysanthemums by Mary Lynn Bracht  (out 01.30) ****This one is going to be a winner!!

In much the way Lilac Girls graphically brought the horrors of WWII Germany to us, so too does this debut novel as it tells the equally horrific and often untold story of Korean women during the Japanese occupation. Chapters alternate between Hana in 1943 as she’s abducted from her island and forced to be a “comfort woman” for the Japanese soldiers and 2011 in Seoul as her sister Emi remembers her shame at feeling she was to blame for Hana’s disappearance. So ashamed, her children are unaware their mother even had a sister. Historians believe between 50,000 and 200,000 Korean women were taken with most never returning. And like Lilac Girls, you are not apt to forget this book.

 

The Woman in the Window  by A.J. Finn   (out 01.02)

Agoraphobic woman watches the house across the street – apparent crimes and creepy stuff happens. For you psychological thriller readers who need a fix.