Everything Beautiful Began After, by Simon Van Booy - unfinished advance reader edition. When one (Rebecca) of the three main and unlikable characters died about halfway through the book, I decided I did not like the other two characters (George and Henry) enough to care what happened to them, even though the setting in archaeological digs in Greece was somewhat interesting.
The Kings and Queens of Roam, by Daniel Wallace - advanced reader edition - finished this one, but wondered why I did - it was so weird, and also had nothing but unlikable characters: sisters Helen and Rachel McAllister, descendants of the even more unlikable founder of the fictional remote silk manufacturing town of Roam, Elijah McAllister. There's also a number of benign ghosts in this fantasy.
Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay - audiobook, unfinished. Boring. Too many references to classics I have not read, like the tiresome Pride and Prejudice. Main character Samantha Moore, who's lived in a group home since she was 15, gets a grant to attend journalism graduate school (at Northwestern University in my birthplace of Evanston, Illinois) at age 23 from a mysterious "Mr. Knightley" who only requests that she write letters to him that he won't answer. I skipped ahead to the end and it was rather predictable.
Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Weaver - audiobook. Looks like Dear Mr. Knightley was an updating of this 1912 book. I did listen to all of it, but after reading the end of the Knightley book, I guessed pretty quickly where this one was heading. The reader, Julia Whelan, sounded the right age (17-21), but read too fast, not pausing enough between the letters. Couldn't view the downloadable material which supposedly includes some very childish stick-figure drawings (some referred to in the text) by Webster. Sounds like it is no great loss.
Children of the Jacaranda Tree - advance reader edition, realistic fiction, historical fiction. The story of various families in Iran during and after the revolution, with the stories moving back and forth in time (1983-2011) and location (Tehran, Iran, and Turin, Italy). It does get a little confusing at times, but provides insights into what life was like for political activists against the Islamic revolution, and reflects the experiences of the author, Sajar Delijani, and her family.
Every Note Played by Lisa Genova - e-book, realistic fiction. One of the main characters is a classical concert pianist who has ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease. He is cared for by the other main character, his ex-wife (and mother of their college-age daughter) who was a pianist in her own right, although she preferred jazz. Excellent book. Lisa Genova has become a master at demonstrating the awful effects of some incurable conditions on the lives of the victim and their families.
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan - audiobook, historical fiction set in World War II, mostly in the Brooklyn Naval Yard but also some in San Francisco and at sea. Two readers, male and female. SO good!
Girl in Reverse by Barbara Stuber - YA historical fiction - couldn't finish, it was moving so slowly. I skipped ahead to the end. A little of a surprise on who the real father was of adopted Chinese teen Lily Firestone. Most interesting part of the story was its time setting in the Korean War era. This was an ARC that came out in 2014 (been on the TBR pile a while) but it apparently didn't catch on, maybe for the same reasons I had problems with it.
© Amanda Pape - 2018
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