2019 Page Turners Book Rankings

                                                                                                        

1.Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens                             4.4



2. Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King                                         4.2



3. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor              3.8


    Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover                                   3.8

4. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles                              3.7 5. Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan                    3.6

    The Library Book by Susan Orlean                                          3.6

6. Standing Alone in Mecca by Asra Nomani                               3.5

7. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley                                              3.4

8. Glass Houses by Louise Penny                                                 3.0

9. The Orphan Mother by Robert Hicks                                       2.9

       

My Name Is Eva by Suzanne Goldring

"Well, to tell the truth, I am wondering how I'll feel when I see his face for the first time, as my hatred for the man who caused your death has not declined one tiny bit. But I've decided I'm going to absolutely do the best job I possibly can and while I'm doing it, if I see any glimpse of a chink in his armour or find any opportunity to make him pay dearly for his dreadful errors of judgement, I will do so, just you wait and see."
                 -Eva, in a letter to deceased husband Hugh, 1945

I selected this book for my Amazon First Reads recently and it was a winner! The rating is a 5.

Protagonist Evelyn Taylor-Clarke, an elderly resident at Forest Lawns Care Home in England, is a loveable and memorable character. Her story begins in 2016 but then flashes back to WWII era and just after, through narratives and also multiple letters to her husband, like the quote above. Throughout, the reader learns of a promise made to her beloved Hugh and secrets she guards of her time working in post-War Germany.

Evelyn's niece, Pat, visits her at the retirement home and is charged with taking some care of the family estate, Kingsley. There she finds a photo and a passport with a strange name and questions her aunt about them. Evelyn, though very sharp mentally, pretends dementia to avoid revealing her true past. When she is questioned by law enforcement about a mysterious disappearance, deception is a game she seems to enjoy.

An engaging plot with themes of love, courage, strength, determination and revenge make this a true page-turner! I recommend it, especially to those who love historical fiction as I do.

Dead Certain A Novel by Adam Mitzner

"I'm a cautionary tale...I went to the high school for the performing arts here in New York City. You know, the one that the movie 'Fame' was based on. College at Columbia, majoring in theater, with every intention of becoming a singer after graduation. Then my mother died the fall of my junior hear, and...I guess it made me feel like I needed to do something more grown-up. I suppose a shrink might also surmise that I wanted to curry favor with my father. Anyway, I went off to law school. Fast-forward fifteen, sixteen years, and here I am, wishing I had made vastly different life choices.":
              -Ella Broden, from the novel

Due to an odd circumstance, I reread this novel. I was on a cruise and thought I had plenty of books loaded on my Kindle but when I finished one, I found I needed WIFI to download a couple of novels that were only queued. I began reading this one and quickly realized by the highlighting I had read it previously. I really didn't remember how it ended so I stuck with it to the end. I found it interesting for a 2nd time. I rated it 4 the first time and I will leave it at that. To read more, see my post of this title from July 3, 2017. I don't think I could review it much better than I did then. I do know I will NOT read it a third time!

The Halo Effect by Anne D. LeClaire

"Now some people would say that this is nothing more than coincidence. Happenstance....But there are others who believe there is no such thing as coincidence...They believe everything is connected and that these connections---what we call coincidences---are meaningful signals from the universe."
                              -Father Gervase, from the novel

At first I found this novel depressing, then intriguing, thinking it might rate a 5. The ending confused me a bit knocking it down to a 4. There WAS a lot to like, however.

Accomplished portrait artist Will Light has been suffering the agonizing loss of his only daughter, 15-year-old Lucy, to a brutal murder. Because he is so bitter and vengeful, his marriage to wife Sophie is in jeopardy. This seemed realistic to me as I've heard of marriages torn apart by the death of a child. Will's story is interrupted occasionally by narratives of Rain La Brea, Lucy's best friend, and that of Father Gervase, the parish priest, who at the bequest of the Cardinal, asks Will to paint portraits of saints for a new cathedral.

My favorite characters were Father Gervase and Dr. Mallory, the psychiatrist who sees Rain, a very troubled teen. Both of them are very wise, as well as kind and patient. Of course, their profound thoughts have to be credited to the writer. LeClaire's style is very readable and I will look for other novels she has written.

Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor

" We arose in the early-morning darkness, greeting each other with Christmas wishes, but the words were hollow, without feeling, and before we tended to anything else, we gathered before the fire in a circle as we did each Christmas morning and sang "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" It was a song of family of love, of loss; we all felt it deeply. Then we fell to our knees, hands still clasped, and prayed, each of us in our turn, for Stacey and Moe's safe return."
                       -from the novel

I am not sure how many times I've read this novel---not as many as Song of the Trees and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, others in the series by Taylor, that's for sure. I was inspired to reread it by the Country Music TV documentary series by Ken Burns which aired recently. The gospel hymn, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" was prominently featured.

I enjoy Ms. Taylor's writing so much and feel as if I know her fictional Logan family, some characters apparently based on the author's own family members. I especially love Cassie Logan, the feisty little narrator, about 11 years old in this sequel. Mama and Papa Logan are very special, too, seemingly near-perfect parents.

Of course the Logans are protagonists in this novel but the new characters added include union organizers, an elderly neighbor who is determined to register to vote and a cousin of Mama's who shows up with a biracial daughter. (He had married a white woman while living up north.) Of course many of the same antagonists show their ugly racist faces, along with a few new ones.

When oldest son, Stacey, runs away to work in the cane fields in Louisiana, the family is frantic. Many side plots make a compelling story in Let the Circle Be Unbroken. Once again I rate it a 5 and will, no doubt, reread The Road to Memphis soon!

[To see more of my thoughts look for my post of the same title on 12/13/16.]