Heaven's Keep by William Kent Krueger

 "May you learn the lesson in each leaf and rock. May you gain the strength and wisdom, not to be superior to your brother, but to be able to fight your greatest enemy, yourself. And may you be ready to come before Kitchimandidoo with clean hands and a straight eye."

            -Henry Meloux, an Ojibwe prayer for Stephen O'Connor

This is the ninth of the Cork O'Connor series and the former sheriff, now private investigator, has one of his biggest and most emotional challenges ever.

When the charter plane carrying Cork's wife, Jo, and several others disappears in a snowstorm in the Wyoming Rockies, extensive searches fail to find the wreckage and all passengers are assumed dead. Cork is devastated at losing the love of his life.

Six months later, two women come to Cork with the claim that the pilot blamed for the disaster was NOT the man everyone thought. Cork's decision to investigate necessitates a trip to Wyoming where he faces uncooperative law enforcement, suspicious local natives and even attempts on his life. In the course of his detective work, he finds hints that Jo may have survived the crash and, of course, this vague hope fuels his drive to find her.

This was another page-turner by Willliam Kent Krueger. I rate it a 5. I am now halfway through the series and looking forward to #10, Vermilion Drift.

Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson

 

"Everyone knows happiness

Everybody grieves

We all cry, we all smile

Everybody bleeds

Everybody has a past,

   things they want to hide

There's give, take, love,

  hate in each and every life."

            from "Dark Night, Bright Future" by Rose McCord

This book was wildly popular with its well-known authors, surprisingly matched. James Patterson, of course, is a prolific producer of thrillers and Dolly Parton, a much beloved country singer and philanthropist. I was curious when the novel was released but stifled the urge to buy and waited weeks to get an E-copy from the library.

As a big fan of country music, I especially enjoyed the mentions of well-known artists and songs, like Tracy Lawrence, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson and many more. I have visited Nashville and knew of some of the sites mentioned there. I liked the story although I found it a bit too predictable.

AnnieLee Keyes is running as fast as she can from a traumatic past and readers are left guessing what it was. Hitchhiking, she ends up in Nashville to try and make it as a country singer/songwriter. Sadly, she must keep looking over her shoulder as the ugly past tries to catch up.

She meets Ethan Blake in a bar where she has gotten a gig and they exchange barbs and insults.... until they don't. As good luck would have it, Ethan works for Ruthanna Ryder, a country music legend in her own time, now retired and wanting to take AnnieLee under her wing.

"Songbook" at the end of the novel includes the complete lyrics of the songs mentioned, ostensibly written by AnnieLee, Ruthanna and Ethan. (See quote) I can't help but wonder if the audio version of the book includes the music. That would be very cool!

As I mentioned, the plot was a bit formulaic which is why I rate it a 3. If you are a country music fan, you will like it!

Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Literature by Zibby Owens

 

"The cracking open of a book's spine has always been an exercise in self-discovery, healing, and fortification. That subtle whoosh when words spill out makes me salivate. Then the feel of the coarse pages under my fingertips delights my consciousness, the sudden sprinkling of syllables, the black-and-white letters in various patterns, coalescing to find their way directly to my heart. It's magic."

                  -from the memoir

I will rate this memoir a 3. It was interesting but not particularly entertaining. I may have been comparing it to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, a fiction I read recently that seemed similar to a memoir. Of the three nouns in the subtitle, I enjoyed the literature aspect and, to a lesser degree, the love, but there was too much angst in the loss portions. I did sympathize with the author in her grief, however.

Zibby Owens suffered anxiety from her youth, was rather introverted and read prolifically. Her love of literature continues throughout her life, as she eventually survives multiple losses, finds her soulmate and experiences success as a writer.

The thing I loved about the book was the frequent mention of book titles Zibby read. Many I had read, and I was reminded how much I enjoyed them. 

Mango, Mambo and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes

"Sleuthing was harder than I'd anticipated. What would Jessica Fletcher do if she were in my position? I thought about the hours and hours of 'Murder She Wrote' episodes that I'd watched with my mom. Angela Lansbury made it look so easy."

      -Miriam, from the novel
 

I selected this book because I was intrigued by the title, but I didn't know if I was going to like it at first. It didn't take long to get involved in the story and develop a fondness for the main character, Miriam---Dr. Miriam Quinones-Smith, a food anthropologist.

A Cuban American, Miriam has recently returned from New York to Miami with her husband Robert and young son Manny. She has reunited with her best friend, Alma, another very likeable character. Miriam is cursed with a xenophobic mother-in-law whom Miriam calls "bruja," witch; the woman is sure to let Miriam know she is not good enough for her son. After being introduced to some of the young women in Alma's circle, including yoga and "mambocize" classes, she is offered a TV spot featuring Caribbean cuisine. (Mambocize was an interesting portmanteau to this long-time Jazzerciser!) 

Within this new circle of acquaintances, a couple of mysterious murders are committed. When Alma is suspected of being involved and is arrested, Miriam becomes a sleuth in her efforts to clear her friend's name. Her investigation is conducted while she is worried her husband is having an affair with a former girlfriend with whom he has reconnected.

I enjoyed the humor in the novel and the challenge of translating the Spanish phrases sprinkled liberally throughout plus always trying to guess "who dunnit"! At the end of the book, the author includes recipes, appropriate for this debut series, Caribbean Kitchen Mysteries. I liked Mango, Mambo and Murder; it gets a 4 rating from me. I recommended it to a friend who knows Spanish and likes murder mysteries that don't get too intense. I will likely read another in the series sometime.

Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

 

"I have been told, Corcoran O'Connor, that the heart has two chambers. I believe it because I do know that the heart has two sides. One is love and the other is fear. One creates, the other destroys. Not every person kills, but every person could. It is how the Great Spirit created us. I do not pretend to understand why; I only know it is so."

         -Henry Meloux, from the novel

      

This is the eighth book in the Cork O'Connor series by this author. I still have at least 10 to go! I am rating this one only a 4 because it confused me at times and involved drug lords and gang violence. With many characters it was hard to keep the good guys and bad guys separate in my mind.

Former sheriff of Tamarack County (Minnesota) Cork O'Connor is now a private investigator. When a leader of the Red Boyz, an Ojibwe band, and his wife are murdered, Cork gets involved in the search for the killer. Cork's teenage daughter, Annie, is a friend of the young brother of the murdered man, providing a subplot of sorts, eventually ending in a frightening and all-too-familiar scenario.

Cork and his family have become familiar and special to me. A favorite secondary character is Henry Meloux, a Mide, or member of the Grand Medicine Society, a healer of the body and spirit, quoted above. He is a longtime friend of Cork, a nonagenarian who has a beautiful philosophy and always offers wise counsel. I have decided from now on, I will start my blog posts on this series with a quote from Henry.

And now on to Heaven's Keep, book #9. I will keep reading one per month until I finish the series.

Impossible to Forget by Imogen Clark

"For a moment they sat, each in quiet contemplation. Maggie thought about Angie and the way she had continued to touch and guide their lives long after she had left them, impossible to forget."

             -from the novel

In 2018, three long-time friends and one woman little known to any of them, come before a solicitor to hear the last wishes of their very good friend, Angie. Maggie, Leon and Tiger met at uni (University of York) and have stayed close for decades. None of the three know why Hope Maxwell is there, too. Angie has left behind a letter charging each of them with guiding and protecting her 18-year-old daughter, Romany. 

The story begins in 1985 when Angie and the other three meet at college. Each friend has a distinctive personality, all likeable in some way. There are Angie, the free spirit and chief of the little clan; Maggie, the studious, aspiring lawyer; Leon, the shy traditionalist; and Tiger, the handsome world traveler. They wonder: why has Angie assigned them this task? What was she thinking? Was it only about nurturing Romany or would the arrangement benefit them, too? And how does Hope fit into this plan? The reader doesn't find out until many chapters in. It takes even longer for the "3 musketeers" to figure it out. 

The "Britishness" was fun for me, with expressions like..."the doorbell rang bang on nine o'clock," "head of sixth form" and "you never seemed to want to know anything...so I just kept schtum." 

Impossible to Forget was different from most of the novels I have read recently. I enjoyed it and have rated it a 4.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

 

"He had no articulate thought of anything; there was only this perfect symphony of movement of turning this earth of theirs over and over to the sun, this earth which formed their home and fed their bodies and made their gods. The earth lay rich and dark and fell apart lightly under the point of their hoes.... Each had his turn at this earth. They worked on, moving together---together---producing the fruit of this earth---speechless in their movement together."

           -thoughts of Wang Lung, from the novel

Wang Lung is a poor farmer with quite a passion for land, "the good earth." When he needs a wife, he must go to the Great House of Hwang to buy a slave, who is called "the woman" for many pages before one can learn her name is O-lan. She turns out to be loyal, hard-working and a woman of few words. She gives Wang Lung children---3 sons and 2 daughters---and helps him make enough success of the farm to afford to buy more land.

In the course of this story, Wang Lung must leave his precious land and move the family south due to a terrible famine produced by drought. In the city, Wang Lung is humbled to pull a jinrikisha and others of the family must beg on the streets to survive. Always in Wang Lung's mind and heart is the desire to get back to his land.

Long story short, they return to the land, acquire more and more wealth and, as one might predict, it all goes to Wang Lung's head. He suddenly finds O-lan unattractive and brings home a concubine/wife, Lotus, who is very high maintenance. I suppose this was culturally acceptable in China at the time, but this reader was angered by Wang Lung's treatment of O-lan who had been the biggest factor in his success. I hoped he would get his comeuppance and I believe he did. But far be it for me to reveal any more!

This book was the Page Turner's designated classic for 2022. Perhaps it was a poor choice. We will see when the group meets in a few weeks. I did not enjoy this book. When it wasn't depressing, it was infuriating. I am rating it a 2. Had I not been the one to put it on our list, I likely would not have completed it. Sometimes after discussion, our group likes the book better than before. I am thinking this may NOT be the case with The Good Earth.

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As it turned out the Page Turners group liked The Good Earth. The average rating: 4.0. The group found a number of things to like about this classic, for example the writing style, increased awareness of Chinese culture and universal life lessons like the corruption of wealth and dynamics of family relationships. We could agree that we admired O-lan and were often angered by Wang Lung. The group felt the book illustrated very well the importance of land and the inescapable effects of nature. After the discussion, I might have given a higher rating. Maybe I was hoping for entertainment and failed to experience the novel on a deeper level.