Books for Adults – Page 3

The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair

This is the first book by this author. I read it over a weekend. The story begins as a letter from Rahkee (a young Indian woman) to her fiance as she is leaving him to return to her ancestral home in India to deal with her past. The bulk of the novel settles on Rakhee’s summer spent in India before her 11th birthday with her mother’s (Amma) mysterious family and away from her father, Aba. Most of the story is told through the voice of young Rakhee, an innocent girl exposed to a brand new life in India as she discovers a secret garden that holds dark secrets of her family’s past that will change her life forever during that summer. It’s a quick read that was beautiful but also sad.

Displacement by Lucy Knisley

Similar to Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast – but better! Lucy Knisley’s graphic novel memoir of her Caribbean cruise also addresses the difficulties of aging, but is less depressing. Lucy is a young “poor, single, obsessive freelancer” who gets the opportunity to accompany her grandparents on a trip. Her “grands” are in their 90s, so her help will be invaluable. This is also an opportunity for her to spend more time getting to know them better. She has a copy of her grandfather’s writings about WWII, which are interspersed with the modern-day story. Nothing seems to go well on this trip. This is one of the best of the new adult graphic novels with both humor and sadness. The illustration is lovely. A great read!

The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin

Is reincarnation possible? This wonderful new book explores what can possibly happen after we die and how far we would go to help our children and those we love. This is a debut novel by Sharon Guskin.

Janie Zimmerman became pregnant after a one-night stand. Now her son Noah is four years old and highly intelligent. He begins to experience bizarre behavior. He becomes difficult, and is kicked out of school. He is not crazy. He does not like baths and is afraid of water. He speaks of another mother whom he wants to go home to. Dr. Jerome Anderson, a psychologist, has been studying young children who seem to recall details from previous lives and is documenting this into a book. Soon Noah, Janie, and Anderson find themselves on a journey looking for answers — has Noah indeed been reincarnated?

Find Her by Lisa Gardner

I have never read Lisa Gardner before. This book is the eighth in the Detective D. D. Warren series, but you really didn’t need to have read the others. This chilling murder mystery thriller stands on its own. Florence Dane spent 472 days as the prisoner of a sexual predator, spending most of her time in a wooden coffin. The story picks up after fice years of her being free. Her kidnapping has left her scarred and obsessed with finding missing people and bringing their kidnappers to justice, which leads to her being abducted all over again. Detective D. D. Warren’s job is now to find Flora as well as another missing girl. A very highly emotional, haunting thriller.

A Common Struggle by Patrick J. Kennedy and Stephen Fried

This book was so wonderful on so many levels. I thought Patrick Kennedy was very brave to write it – and I absolutely understand why it was written after his father’s passing. The way he grew up hearing from his dad and very extended famous family that we keep everything in the family and don’t air our dirty laundry helped to keep him from truly confronting and defeating his own demons. The authors do a great job in giving information about how our healthcare system and government succeed and fail at treating people with mental illness and addiction. Ultimately this is a book about successes and failures, but mostly about hope in dealing with these two very important issues.

Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman

Where It Hurts is a hard crime story. It is tightly plotted and very descriptive with lots of information on its setting in Long Island, which made it a bit slow at times. However, the characters and plot were so interesting that it had me coming back to see how it would all play out.

This is the first book in a series featuring ex-cop Gus Murphy. His son’s sudden death has thrown him into a deep hole of grief leading to the end of his marriage, problems with his daughter, and a menial job as a hotel van driver, living at the hotel and isolated from everything he knew. Then he is contacted by a man he regularly used to arrest and asked to look into the barbaric death of the man’s son. Initially reluctant to do so, Gus slowly uncovers more and more details about those involved and as he does so, he also learns to deal with his personal grief and move on with his life.

I have never read this author before, but will look into some of his other popular series since I enjoy mystery.

My Booky Wook : A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand Up by Russell Brand

Not sure how anyone else feels about Russell Brand, but I enjoy him immensely. Interesting to learn about his growing up years and to see how he became addicted then beat it, all treated with his characteristic humor. An easy read…

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

How did two bicycle mechanics teach the world to fly?

Prize-winning author David McCullough is just the person to answer that question. Along the way, we learn about the private lives of the brothers. Their skills were a perfect fit — Wilber was a genius and Orville was a mechanical wiz. Together, they made history.

McCullough’s stories are always set in a rich, historical context. The story takes us from their Ohio hometown, to the banks of North Carolina, to Paris and beyond.

I enjoyed the journey. I’m sure you will, too.

The Great Bridge: the epic story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough

One of McCullough’s early books, this is the amazing story of the planning and building of what would become, at the time, the world’s longest suspension bridge. It’s a tale of tremendous optimism and accomplishment as well as a story of greed, political rivalry and corruption.

McCullough devotes a good portion of the book to the engineer behind the project. But he sets his accomplish into a broader, historical context. It is the tale of two cities — New York (Manhattan) and Brooklyn — their growth, development and increasing inter-dependence. The engineering obstacles were enormous. The construction obstacles more so – bodies were crushed and broken; danger was the constant companion of the construction workers.

It’s a fantastic story. Give it a good read, then, take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Caleb Carr is a military historian turned novelist. In The Alienist, he employs his specialty to paint a stark picture of the underside of New York City, circa 1896.

An “alienist” was the popular term used for people in the then-budding discipline of psychology. Carr’s main character uses his skills to develop what we now call a “profile” to find a serial killer, stalking the male bordellos of lower Manhattan.

Carr populates his novel with prominent people from the history of NYC in the late 19th century. Central to the story is Theodore Roosevelt, in his role as Police Commissioner. You’ll also meet folks like author Jacob Riis and J. P. Morgan.

This is a police procedural which uncovers the complex social history of NYC in an era of rapid social change via immigration, the rise of a super-wealthy class, and class conflict. Carr also pushes the social envelop by making a woman police employee a central character.

For a strong taste of life in New York in this era, read The Alienist.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

I loved this quick read YA fantasy. It reminded me of The Hunger Games series. This fantasy world is divided into the Silvers and the Reds (based on the color of your blood). The Silvers are the rulers with special powers, and the Reds are the slaves working day and night to ensure the comfort of Silvers. The story centers on Mare Barrow, a Red, and this determines her identity. She’s a thief from a large family, trying to survive in a cruel world. Unexpectedly she is thrown into the royal palace as a servant. But, in an instant, her life takes a new turn. It is discovered that Mare bleeds Red, but possesses a very distinct superpower — one that could overthrow the crown and the hierarchies of the Silvers and Reds. Thus starts the battle for the power of the kingdom and for loyalties. . . I just got the sequel to start reading, and I am looking forward to the adventure continuing.

The Lost Heiress by Roseanna M. White

The Lost Heiress by Rosanna White is right at the top of my “favorite books list.” It is set in the Edwardian Era of England. Brook, the main character, has never known where she truly belongs. She was adopted by the woman who saved her from a carriage accident as an infant. She was raised in Monaco’s palace by the prince. Once grown, she longed to know where she came from. The death of her adoptive mother brought with it some secrets of her past. Best friend and Duke, Justin, helped her find the family who thought her missing forever. While her father accepted her right away, others were suspicious of her motives. Unknowingly, she has carried a curse that threatens to tear her from the family she has just found. Will she learn to love and rely on those who betrayed her before? You will just have to read it to see! I literally couldn’t put this book down. It had me completely captivated. I liked it so much I purchased my own copy and have the next book pre-ordered!

The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne

The Ice Twins is about a family that moves from London to a remote island in Scotland after the death of one of their twin daughters. Shortly before the move, Sarah, the mother of the girls, begins to wonder if something is off about her surviving daughter, Kirstie.

After the family moves to the island, the feeling of isolation adds to the mystery of what is going on with Kirstie, whose behavior is becoming more and more erratic. She begins to insist that she is her dead sister, Lydia, and that there has been a horrible case of mistaken identity. As Sarah delves more deeply into what has happened, she wonders if they have in fact a horrible case of mistaken identity. The novel is told in the alternating perspective of Sarah and of her husband, Angus, who is the father of the girls.

I found this novel very enjoyable and fast paced. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy a good mystery/thriller. I’m looking forward to reading more of S. K. Tremayne’s books.

Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Have you ever wondered how one decision can change your life? If you decide to cross the street at a certain time, does that affect your life? There was a lot of pondering about destiny and fate and what is or isn’t meant to be in this novel. Hannah is at club one night. She meets up with Ethan, a guy she had dated in high school. The book splits into alternating sections: one timeline where she decided to stay at the club with Ethan and one where she leaves with her friend to go home.

I really liked the premise. I enjoy the author and have read all of her books. I was very excited for this one to come out, and I finished it quickly. I would’ve preferred it to be a little less chick-lit-centric, but other than that, I enjoyed it. I like the idea of alternate universes, how each decision we make in life creates a different universe and that there are billions of possible universes where we are living different lives.

Rosemary : The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

I just finished this book and I guess I was somewhat disappointed : I think I was looking for something a little more revelatory about Rosemary Kennedy. Ironically, the reason the book wasn’t able to reveal more was outlined in the Author’s Note — a bill sponsored and passed by Senator Edward Kennedy in 1996, called HIPAA, made the medical records relating to Rosemary’s lobotomy surgery in 1941 permanently inaccessible.

That being said, the author does a very good job of recounting Rosemary’s life growing up in America and England. She also outlines all the great work Eunice Kennedy did in the intervening years with the Special Olympics, spurred on by her sister Rosemary’s disabilities .

On a personal note, Rosemary’s story gave me more background on some issues I know about firsthand in trying to assimilate individuals with disabilities in educational and vocational situations. It also pointed out to me the stigma and fear people experienced if they had a family member with a disability, often causing families to keep members at home with them or institutionalize them if they could not meet their needs. Finally, it reinforced what I already knew — families can benefit in so many ways from accepting and welcoming members with disabilities into their lives.