Books for Adults – Page 7

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

The Matchmaker

Looking for a good quick beach read? Like romance and believe in long lost love? Like a good cry? Then this book will meet all your expectations. It starts out light, but before you know it, you see there’s more to the main character, Dabney. Dabney, a native of Nantucket, seems to have the perfect life until complications occur when her high school “love of her life” reappears on the island after a twenty-seven-year separation. It wouldn’t be complicated if it weren’t for the fact that she had his child after he left and she is now married to someone else. His return stirs up feelings that she thought she had buried forever. At the same time, her daughter’s love life is a mess and she doesn’t know how to help her. The story is filled with happiness, love, hate and sadness.

The Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlson

The Soil Will Save Us

Soil can absorb carbon from the air — who knew? It turns out quite a few agriculturalists, scientists, and environmentalists across the globe knew, and are working on cultivating soil health not only for the good of their crops, but also potentially for the health of our atmosphere. Thank you to Kristin Ohlson for bringing this hopeful news to the lay environmentalists of the world in a fascinating, readable way. I really enjoyed this book!

Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon

Coldbrook

At a secret lab in the Appalachians, Jonah Jones and his group of scientists have found a gateway to… well, they don’t quite know what yet. It’s what comes in through the gate that is the problem. A zombie plague from another world rapidly infects the scientists, the U.S. and then the world. Holly Wright manages to escape through the doorway. What will she find there — a cure for the plague, escape, or maybe just some explanation? And who is this dark mysterious figure coming after Jonah in his dreams? Will the earth be saved?

If you are a fan of zombie apocalypse books, you will love this one. Can’t wait for the next book in this exciting series.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See

I would highly recommend this beautifully written work of historical fiction that alternates between the stories of two children during WWII. The two main characters are Marie-Laure, a young blind French girl who flees occupied Paris with her father, a key master of the Natural Museum of History, and Werner, a German orphan whose tinkering with an old radio lends him technical skills that throw him headlong into a Hitler Youth group which leads him directly into the heart of the war.

The action moves in waves from Germany to France, from pre-war years to action in the midst of war to the end of fighting and back again. Doerr’s development of the two main characters continues even after the war ends and finally finishes in the present day with an underlying message of the innocence and humanity of these two young characters as their lives are sadly forced into a path that will someday have them meet as enemies. The book can help today’s youth to understand events and conditions in Europe during the Second World War, and the lives of individuals on each side of the conflict.

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

The Astronaut Wives Club

Ever wonder what it would be like to stand in the shoes of an astronaut’s wife? If you grew up in the 60s and 70s, I can almost guarantee that you did! The book goes through the years of lift-offs, landings and explosions with an emphasis on the wives’ friendship and support of one another. Through the years, the book offers a glimpse into their lives by showing cheating husbands, widows, colorful personalities among the astronauts and their wives, the first divorce, the women’s liberation movement and political mayhem. The book doesn’t go into that much depth — it’s more of an overview of their lives and of the times.

What I didn’t like was that the book jumped around often, so it was confusing to remember which wife was married to which astronaut as the book went on. There were a few pictures in the book of some of the wives, but since Koppel frequently referred to them by their first names, it became confusing as more astronauts were added to the program. It would have been very helpful to have a chart showing the husband’s name and the wife’s name … like a family tree. Overall, I enjoyed the book since I was a child of the 60s and could relate to those times.

Omega Days by John Campbell

Omega Days

Another Zombie apocalypse novel. And well worth your time! Well drawn characters battle for their lives in an America ravaged by a zombie horde. Father Xavier Church questions his faith, as one might imagine, but shows bravery and skill in surviving and leading other survivors.

Skye Dennison, an incoming college student at the University of California, Berkeley, watches as her family is killed. After her own rescue she learns to defend herself. Young and brave, her driving purpose is revenge.

Then there is Angie West, star of a History Channel reality show that features her family’s gun business.

Our characters fight for survival and move toward a final gathering that presages the next book in the series. As the book switches between the adventures of each small group, the reader feels sorry to leave one group, but the next is even more intriguing. Zombie fans take note!

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

Mr. Churchill's Secretary

It’s wartime, 1940. Maggie Hope, raised in America, is actually British and, due to the unexpected inheritance of a house, finds herself in London and in need of a job. Most unexpectedly, she winds up working as a typist for the prime minister, Winston Churchill himself. Maggie’s background is actually math, and she soon finds herself caught up in intrigue and ciphers. This book contains marvelous period detail and interesting characters. It is both a first-rate historical novel and a fine murder mystery. Recommended.

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

Size 12 Is Not Fat

Size 12 is not fat. I believe this to be true, as does Heather Wells—former teen pop idol—in Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot. The Meg Cabot who wrote The Princess Diaries? Yes, that Meg Cabot. It may seem as if Cabot is making a giant leap here, venturing from a YA series about modern princesses and the like to an adult series about a former pop star turned crime solving residence hall assistant. Okay, maybe it’s not that giant a leap, but Size 12 is successful in bridging the gap between YA and, well, A.

After her mother runs off with her money and her manager, and her fellow famous pop heartthrob fiancé cheats on her, Heather Wells is forced to make her own way in the world. Fortunately Jordan, her now ex-fiancé, has a “black sheep” brother willing to take her on as a roommate in his (inherited) Manhattan brownstone—that is, in exchange for doing his “books.” Cooper, true to “black sheep” form, is a licensed private investigator and an organizational disaster.

Though no one can believe it, Heather is truly happy with her new life. She loves Cooper… rather, her living situation with Cooper. Obviously she can’t be in love with her ex-fiancé’s brother. And she loves her job at the residence hall—even when a girl is found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft—a mystery she is determined to solve with or without anyone else’s help. She will not have students dying on her watch!

Size 12 is a fun ride with a fun heroine, while also teaching us a valuable lesson—that you can start over. And that there are more important things in life than what size you wear or how famous you are — things like the ability to think for yourself and stand on your own two feet — lessons important for all women, YA and A alike, to learn, and to take to heart.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Goblin Emperor

This is a classic tale of a discarded son being suddenly thrust into the limelight and a position he was never trained for. Maia’s world is turned upside down when an airship crash kills his father — the emperor — as well as all those in the line of succession before Maia. Maia, who has been raised in the harsh and unloving home of his uncle far from the capital, is awakened by a courier and whisked off to the imperial court to take his place as the new emperor of the elves. Maia himself is half goblin on his mother’s side. Maia, a young man of integrity and intelligence though woefully uneducated, struggles to learn the endless things he doesn’t know in order to preside over the empire effectively. The court is full of intrigue and danger, but Maia also finds some allies.

The world building and character development in this fantasy novel are excellent and drew me in. Names of people are long and rather foreign, but there is a pronunciation guide and glossary in the back. Though the book doesn’t say so, I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a series.

The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin

The Aviator's Wife

I knew very little about Anne Morrow Lindbergh before reading this book, other than that she had written Gift from the Sea and that she was Charles Lindbergh’s wife. It turns out she was much more. Anne was the first licensed female glider pilot in the U.S. and served as Charles’s co-pilot and navigator on numerous flights as he traversed the globe. However, she was overshadowed by her husband’s fame, the tragic kidnapping and death of their son Charlie, and her husband’s domineering personality.

This novel brings the time period to life and rounds out both Anne and Charles — he comes across as something of a tyrant. It takes many years for Anne to find her voice and come into her own. I enjoyed this book very much, but also found myself wondering how much of it was fact and how much was the author’s imagination. Perhaps I’ll have to read a biography of Anne in the future. Recommended.

Wendy and the Lost Boys : The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein by Julie Salamon

Wendy and the Lost Boys

A truly fascinating book — – I enjoy books about theater folks, playwrights, actors, etc. because I love to read about the process they go through in their respected mediums. There is also a lot about her place in her family and how she was influenced by her family throughout her life. Well worth it for sure and I would highly recommend it! By the way, has anyone ever seen any of Wasserstein’s plays? Would love to know what you thought of them….

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers

I loved every single page of this book! I love the fact that the author told the story through the women, who by the way were all strong, awesome women. I also really like learning more about the Jewish faith as well as what it may have been like during the siege at Masada. Absolutely fascinating and totally worth the time to sit and read. A big affirmative recommendation for this book!

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Blue Nights

So…having previously read The Year of Magical Thinking, I picked up this book. First of all, it takes only about an hour to read this very small book. Secondly, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m a reader, so I read almost all the time. But why I would choose to read a book about a mother writing about the loss of her only daughter, well…let’s just say it was ill advised. In any event, I also have to say I guess I don’t like Didion’s style; she repeats phrases over and over, and it’s really annoying. And I feel really sorry for her as well — she is definitely not at peace with much of anything — aging, being alone, etc. I almost think she’s clinically depressed and would like to call her doctors in NYC to make sure they add an anti-depressant to her daily medications.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night

This is the follow-up to Discovery of Witches. There’s a third one in the works, too. This book was chock-full of literary and scientific characters that are intimately involved with the two main characters, Diana and Matthew. There are also references to the Salem witches (Diana is a distant relative of the Bishops from Salem, MA). There is lots of moving around as Diana and Matthew time travel to find an ancient manuscript. It is sometimes confusing to keep it all straight, but it’s worth it to keep reading. I’m looking forward to Book 3 in this series.

Big Girl Small by Rachel Dewoskin

Big Girl Small

I saw this on a book list and ordered it and couldn’t remember what it was about. Then I started it and found out it was about a girl who is a Junior in high school, who just happens to be a Little Person. She just started a new school because she is a very talented singer. However, she gets involved with a boy and then becomes involved in a scandal at school. I enjoyed it and I thought it was a pretty good representation of kids in high school and the peer pressure that they encounter.