Stepping in the Write Direction

The Wager by David Grann is the poster book for “Truth is stranger than fiction;” this  narrative nonfiction book is a story about a crew of men and boys with ages spanning from 80 years (a cook) to adolescence, who work on the British 18th century ship HMS Wager in 1741. They are sent on a secret Naval mission with a squadron of other ships to destroy any Spanish vessels along the way toward South America and the Pacific Ocean (they were at war with Spain), and also try to locate and commandeer a legendary Spanish treasure ship. Author David Grann had access to “archival debris: the washed-out logbooks, the moldering correspondence, the half-truthful journals, and the surviving records from the troubling court-martial”(Kindle book blurb). This book is like a runaway train I didn’t want to leave. It is gripping and not easily put down.  I posted several passages from this book on social media, prompting a friend to ask if it was similar to William Golding’s book Lord of the Fl...

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall may not be the book you expected it to be, because it’s so much better than what you could ever have envisioned. It is so riveting a story, I barely took any time to highlight passages. The narrative pulls readers along, why stop for any reason and delay finding out what the next development will be? During the trial portion of the book in Chapter 54, I literally silenced the Audible narration of my Kindle edition to turn each page myself, desperate to see how the story would end, and just when you think it’s over, new developments arise.  This is an immersive story, the kind that might pull a reader out of a months long reading slump, and all the details are best left for their own discovery. Suffice it to say this story hits on soulmate love, passion, betrayal, loss, grief, love for children and family, wealth, farming, and substance abuse. No stone is left unturned, and all the loose ends get tied up before the story ends. At the time I starte...

I thoroughly enjoyed Sea Wife by Amity Gage. I love to sail, and as a child we spent summers at a large area lake. I had one of those Kool cigarette sailboats which actually had a styrafoam hull, which we fiberglassed. Admittedly I do have a soft spot for books that involve sea voyages and sailing. In this book husband Michael talks his wife Juliet into buying a sailboat and taking their 7 and 3 yr old children on an extended sea voyage.  The wife has experienced some kind of trauma stemming from her childhood, and her PTSD has gotten worse after the births of their two children. The couple is also having problems in their marriage, as couples sometimes do when redefining their roles and responsibilities once children arrive. Michael hopes the time together on the sailing adventure could be healing for both of them. After much discussion Juliet finally gives her husband the green light for their yearlong family sailboat cruise. Later, post voyage, a therapist she works with observe...

What I Ate In One Year by Stanley Tucci is an interesting, light, humorous, and witty read for anyone interested in cooking, good food, restaurants, acting and actors, what Tucci’s daily business and family life is like, and what the heck is going on with his wife Felicity Blunt who Tucci portrays constantly throughout the book as potentially engaging in affairs, which I’m sure is just a humorous device of some kind. You couldn’t help noticing everytime he mentions where she’s off to, there is a tongue in cheek sarcastic suggestion that other men may be involved, throughout the entire book, yet they pair beautifully in the kitchen, and he makes the point, “Time cooking with someone you love is time well spent.” Before this book I was reading Richard Osman’s latest, We Solve Murders, and struggling to get through which I didn’t expect as I’ve loved previous books he’d written. I found it very different from his books in the Thursday Murder Club series. Tucci’s book by comparison was a v...

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney is about two brothers with a tenuous relationship who are coping with the death of their father, realigning their lives in their post father worlds, and grappling with the meaning of life and spirituality as well. The book takes place during a period that leads up to the approaching Christmas holiday. The older brother is an educated, successful attorney. The younger brother is an Irish chess champion who lived with their father, and was with him during his final days. Both brothers are in relationships with women that are not exactly traditional, and this initially becomes a certain degree of conflict between them. There are family and comunnity expectations to contend with, as they move forward into the lives that feel most comfortable to each.  Life doesn’t come in “one size fits all,” despite what well meaning parents, siblings, friends, and coworkers may think. It takes strength to stand up for the things that give our individual lives meaning and pu...

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy is the kind of book that you don’t want to let go of until you’re finished, and when you are, you feel full of something deep in your heart, have a catch in your throat, and eyes that want to water. The next day, you go back to the book to save the passages you couldn’t take the time to when you were in a hurry to find out what happens next. Each passage you locate leads you closer to understanding fully what Helen Cartwright is experiencing throughout the book.  Another book released recently, The Life Impossible by Matt Haig, covers similar terrain, “Once upon a time there was an old woman who lived the most boring life in the universe. That woman rarely left her bungalow, except to see the doctor, help at the charity shop, or visit the cemetery. She didn’t garden any more. The grass was overgrown, and the flowerbeds were full of weeds. She ordered her weekly shopping. She lived in the Midlands…She was only seventy-two, but since her husband passed awa...

What Happened to Nina by  Dervla McTiernan deals with a parent’s greatest fear, a missing child. It reads like a gripping police procedural wrapped in a study of family dynamics, which is further wrapped in literary fiction. A young college aged couple, Nina and Simon, who’ve been involved for about four years go off to Stowe Vermont, a short distance from their homes, for a week of hiking, but only Simon returns from this trip, and Nina’s family is unaware he’s home, somewhat reminiscent of Gabby Petito’s disappearance during a summer vacation with boyfriend Brian Laundrie who returns to his family in Gabby’s van, while Gabby’s family, not notified of Brian’s return, grows increasingly alarmed when she fails to respond to repeated attempts at communication with her, ultimately prompting them to contact law enforcement. Themes in the book involve domestic violence’s coersive control, inter-partner violence, dealing with grief and trauma, the lasting effect of social media’s innuend...