Blind Squirrel

Finished March 8

Blind Squirrel by Dave Mishkin

This novel tells an interesting story. The main character, Noah Nicholson is a minor league hockey player. He has excellent hand-eye coordination, which makes up for his slower skating. The story is told mainly in the present, but also jumps back to Noah's childhood. 

Noah has been on the team in Hershey, Pennsylvania for years, and is the captain of the team. He is also the guy that sets the tone, and guides new players through the team dynamic and what is expected of them. As the book begins, we see him go through this with two younger players. One is a young married player whose wife has recently had a baby, and the sleep deprivation has been causing him to be late often, and not play up to expectations. Despite not having a family of his own, we see how he reminds the young man of the expectations on him, and guides him to resources. The other player is a young Russian player who played in the Canadian minor league the year before, and went briefly to the NHL team affiliated with the Hershey team, but is spending the rest of the season in the minors. Noah guides him to better choices in nutrition than the fast food he's been living on, and gets him into a routine that will serve him to hone his skills and help him mature as a player. 

Noah, despite being admired and liked, has a secret that he has been dealing with for years, since the death of his parents in an accident when he was only twelve. It has him shying away from serious relationships, and living a lonely life. 

In his childhood, raised by two loving parents, both teachers, one of whom was headed towards pro sports before an injury, he had a great life. His parents were supportive, but also instilled a strong ethical core in him. They were active, running and biking. They read a lot, with his mother in particular sharing a love of books with him through a habit of bedtime reading that lasted long past when most kids stop. They didn't just read, they also talked about the books, about the ideas represented and what they meant. He also started young with a passion for baseball with his hand-eye coordination leading to not only playing on teams young, but also practicing regularly with his parents as support. He was an excellent hitter .and catcher, with his best friend as an excellent pitcher. They lived in California, but had a strong community that they were involved in. 

After his parents' death, he moved back east to live with his paternal grandmother and they had a good relationship. It was based on similar expectations to the ones his father had grown up with: a strong work ethic, good academics, and involvement in a sport. Noah couldn't face baseball without his parents, but he took advantage of the great private school his parents had planned for him in this eventuality and access to an ice rink, and taught himself how to skate so he could join the school hockey team. 

We see how he came to be where he is, and when he unexpectedly is injured in a game, ending his career, we see his depression and the actions that led him out of it. Once again, he becomes connected to his community, makes new friends, and might even have a chance of a romance and a new career. But only if he deals with his past trauma. 

I found the main character to have a lot of depth, and his story is told with empathy and sensitivity. We gradually learn the details of his trauma and how he has coped. I genuinely cared about him. 

The author brings his sports experience to this book. He began sports broadcasting in college, and now works for the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team. He does mainly radio broadcasting but launched into television this year. Because of his experience telling fans about the sports he watches, he makes both baseball and hockey come alive for the reader, which means that the sports details here are never boring. This is his first book, and I definitely would be interested in reading more by him.

The Weekend Crashers

Finished January 16

The Weekend Crashers by Jamie Brenner

This women's fiction novel has three female characters that we follow over the course of a few days. Maggie Hodges is in her 40s, raised her adult daughter as a single mom, and works at a clothing store in New York City. She started the job when her daughter was young, and stayed. The owner, an older woman named Elaine, is a woman that has invested in a variety of businesses.

Piper Hodges, 23, daughter of Maggie has been working as a model since being discovered by a reputable agent. Piper lives with her boyfriend Ethan, and has paused her college education to focus on modelling. 

Belinda Yarrow owns a small hotel in small town Pennsylvania with her husband of 35 years, Max, something they bought into decades ago after a crisis in their marriage.

All three of these women are knitters. Belinda runs knitting retreats on a regular basis, with some people coming regularly. Elaine grew up in the town Belinda's hotel is in and told Maggie about the retreat.

As the book opens, Piper is doing a show in New York City, and Maggie has scored a ticket. For unknown reasons, as Piper is walking onto the runway, she faints and collapses. 

We can see Piper is less enthused about her modelling career than her mother is. Piper has other interests, and hasn't made big money so far, and she finds herself feeling relieved that this may end her career. Maggie is worried about her daughter in many ways, including that she is in a serious relationship at such a young age. This may be because Maggie herself got pregnant with Piper when she was quite young and gave up her college education to be a responsible mom. She wants Piper to have more options.

Maggie brings up the knitting retreat as a way to take Piper's mind off her mishap and have some mother daughter time. 

Belinda's husband has booked another group into the hotel on the same weekend as the retreat, a bachelor's party where the focus is on outdoor expertise and survival skills. They've also had an offer from a chain to buy the hotel and Max is eager to move to another stage of life. Belinda isn't so sure. 

As we see the possibilities for people who truly care about each other want different things in life, we also see how throwing two disparate groups of people together by change can create interesting situations. 

I think I liked Belinda best of the characters, perhaps because she is closest to me in age, I found her insightful, thoughtful, and good at her job. She isn't as good at communicating her own wants and isn't always diplomatic when she does.

Each women grows in some way during this weekend and its aftermath, and many of the men face issues of change as well. I enjoyed the read. 

Mockingbird

Finished September 25

Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig

This is the second book in a series set around Miriam Black, a young woman with a strange ability, an independent spirit, and an empathetic streak. The first time she touches someone, she will see the moment of their death, including the day and time as well as details such as disease, accidents, and violent deaths. Recently she's been trying to pass as normal, living with a man she saved from his fate and working as a cashier at a grocery store. She wears gloves to prevent touching the customers and overwhelming herself. But it goes against her nature and one day her mask slips and she ends up touching someone at the store. She foresees that the woman will be violently killed by a man with a gun, in only a few moments. As much as she doesn't like the woman, this is not something she wants to happen, and she steps in to change fate again. 

When she has these visions of deaths, she often sees birds, usually a crow that seems to talk to her in her head, and we see birds appear in other scenes as well. I found this an interesting and key part to the novel, something to think about in a new way. There are also  chapters in the book called 'Interludes' where we see visions of people from Miriam's past, now dead, interacting with her. 

Afterward, she returns to the trailer she lives in with Louis, a long-distance trucker. She decides that she needs to move on, and begins a trek from Long Beach, New Jersey toward the rest of the continent. But she ends up sidetracked towards a girls boarding school, one for misfits and delinquents but offering academic excellence. There, she's agreed to a job, using her ability for a woman who fears her own death is near.

As Miriam finds more than she bargained for at the school, she knows she must step in to change fate again, rather than have young girls undergo horrible things. As Miriam relies on her instincts, Louis, and the birds that fly along with her, she takes the birds' warnings and tries to understand how to do what she feels she must. 

I really liked Miriam, her antisocial attitude, casual coarse language, and her perseverance. She's a woman who doesn't necessarily like what she feels she has to do, but does it anyway. She can't see her own death, but somehow doesn't fear it either. 

I've had this book on my shelf for a while and regret not picking it up sooner. I'll look for more in the series soon.  

The Christmas Boutique

Finished July 20

The Christmas Boutique by Jennifer Chiaverini

I've read other books by this author, but none in this series before, so I found it helpful that there was a little introduction to each of the featured characters that gave me some background, but not so much that a regular reader of the series would find it repetitive. 

The novel moves through several narrators with each in their own well-labeled section and only overlap when it was needed for perspective. For each of these sections, there is background that relates to what is happening in the present, giving us insights into character, circumstances, and motivations. 

The time period covered here is quite short, only a few days, but a lot happens. As the book opens it is a beautiful winter day, but a heavy storm is predicted, so people are either delaying going out to do things until the storm is over and things are cleared up, or they are  trying to get everything they need done as quickly as they can. Elm Creek Quilts is in their slow season and one of the staff has been pulled away by other needs, causing some friction. In the town, things are gearing up for the annual Christmas Boutique, run by one of the local churches and benefiting a local charity. When the storm moves through, it damages the regular venue for this event and Elm Creek is approached as an alternate, giving a lot of preparation to do in a short time frame and we see the role that each of the characters plays. 

I enjoyed this brief taste of life in this small town and a glimpse of the characters, giving me a sense of which ones interest me more and which ones less. I'd say it is a good taster for the series.

For those who quilt, there is a lot of description of various quilting patterns as well. 

Rules for Visiting

Finished February 16 

Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane

This novel intrigued me from the descriptions and I borrowed it from my local library. The narrator of the story is May Attaway, a forty-something landscaper who lives with her father in the house she grew up in and works as a university gardener at the local university there in Anneville, PA. Some time ago, she ordered a cutting from the Fortingall Yew, a famous tree in Scotland that is believed to be at least three thousand years old. The UK Forestry Commission had announced the plan to offer cuttings, and she jumped at it. More recently someone has written a poem about the yew that grew from the cutting she took, and the poem won an award. The university has decided to give her some extra time off in honour of this and she has decided to use some of that time to visit friends. Two of the friends she decides to visit are from high school and two are from college.

The first friend lives in Connecticut and she flies to see her. Lindy is married and has three daughters, and May spends a few days with her and her family. The second friend is Vanessa, who is also married with one child. Vanessa has been married only a couple of years, but has two young stepsons. 

The third friend is Neera who lives in New York City and and has one child. May discovers when she gets there that Neera is in the early stages of ending her marriage. The situation is more awkward because May introduced her to her husband Adam.

The last friend is Rose, and Rose is also a landscape architect. May had not entered this program directly from college, so she is a few years older than Rose. Rose lives in London England and has a job creating attractive vegetable gardens for her clients. Personally, I found this visit the most interesting, and the friendship the most sharing, perhaps because Rose isn't married either.

From each visit, May takes something from her friends' homes, that represents something for her. I found this intriguing. Also, for the last three years, her father, who is in his eighties, has been leaving her copies of information on trees, for consideration as a memorial after he has died. The ones that he leaves for her during the novel's timeline are included her at the beginning of chapters, along with her thoughts on each.

We also gradually see how May's life has got to where it is. We find out what happened to her mother, and see her relationship with her father in its complexity. May's journeys also bring her out of her routine, and get her trying different things. She engages more with her neighbours and coworkers, takes the first step towards a possible romantic relationship, and more fully engages in life. 

One of the things May travels with is an older edition of Emily Post, and she tries to follow the Rules for Visiting enclosed therein. These rules are included near the end of the novel. 

I really enjoyed this book, for its thoughts on friendship, for its quirkiness and for its character May.

Nothing Left to Mend

Finished April 16
Nothing Left to Mend by Matt R. Weaver

This rural noir novel features Glenn Dempster, the new police chief of a mill town, Verton, Pennsylvania. The union has been locked out of the mill for months, with increasing violence between the substitute workers and the desperate union men. Glenn is respected by him men, but not liked, and he only just barely won the vote against one of his own men for chief, but taking on the corruption of the previous chief as an issue. His marriage is in difficulty, and as the book opens, he is living in a small apartment in an extremely ill-kept building. His wife is using their young daughter, Heather as a pawn between them and Heather is just trying to keep her head down, both at home, and at school where she stands alone, with her father hated by both union blue collar and the white collar workers. Glenn's wife's father is the mayor and he has no love for Glenn, with his actions causing many of the issues in Glenn's marriage.
There is a lot of small town stuff going on here, with everyone putting their nose in everyone else's business and one café a no-man's ground for workers to eat and meet.
As the factory owners finally allow the union back to work, an explosion in the blast furnace reignites the issues between the sides, and has Glenn's team trying to find out what lies behind some of the actions.
Glenn is a loner, a local boy that just wants to do right and earn a living. He's smart but not always lucky, and he begins to wonder if he really has a future in this town.
I quite enjoyed this book and liked how the characters evolved over the course of the book, including young Heather.

Restless

Finished July 5
Restless: A Ghost's Story by Rich Wallace

As the title indicates, this story is told by a ghost. The story takes place in the town of Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, and the central character here is Herbie, a 17-year-old entering his senior year of high school. Up to now, Herbie played soccer, but the new coach doesn't appeal to him, and when he quits the team, the coach slings an insult at him that he couldn't make footfall or the cross-country team, so Herbie decides to do both. There are no rules against it, but it hasn't been done before, and meeting the challenges of both will require a lot of work on Herbie's end. As the year begins, one of his regular runs is through the cemetery, and Herbie's energy draws the attention of a ghost who hasn't been able to move on, Eamon Connelly, a young man who died in 1888, while trying to scale a cliff just below the cemetery late one night. But Eamon isn't the narrator of this story, although he does have a central role.
The narrator is Herbie's brother Frank, who died years ago when he was 17 of lymphatic cancer. Frank hasn't been able to move on either. He also hasn't been able to make himself felt in any way to Herbie, except in Herbie's dreams, even though he spends almost all his time with him.  But things seem to be changing. Herbie actually sees Eamon's ghost that night when he runs, and he begins to wonder, about energy, about life after death, about ghosts, and about many other things.
A couple of years back, Herbie's parents separated and he moves back and forth between them. This is definitely better than when they were together, arguing so much.
As he continues to work hard at school, at his sports, and as he meets a girl that seems to like him as much as he likes her, his interest in his brother and in the ghost he continues to encounter lead him to think hard. But he's not the only one. Frank is also entertaining some ideas that he never considered before, and that just might change everything.
A wonderful story of the need to prove oneself, of the idea of possibilities beyond what has been proven. A story that I truly enjoyed.

Confessions of a Funeral Director

Finished June 15
Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life by Caleb Wilde

The author of this book started writing a blog about his experience as a sixth generation funeral director, and that led to this book. He is very open about his experiences, including his initial reluctance to join the family business, one that both of his parents grew up in. He discusses his crisis of faith, his ongoing uncertainty about his career, his moments of understanding and enlightenment, his respect for the people whose bodies he looks after, and their loved ones. He talks about his own family and the things he has learned from his father, both his grandfathers, and others. He includes deaths that affected him personally, as well as those for whom he only learned the stories as he carried out his services. Drawing on different experiences that he was part of, he showed how other people, other organizations, and religious bodies showed honour to those that died as well.
He took on graduate work on the subject of death, religion, and culture and thus was closely observing these experiences, thinking hard about them, and trying to learn more, and that all shows here.
One bit of writing that I shared with a friend going through her own loss touched me,

Nevertheless, death asks us to pause. It doesn't tell us what we need to do when we pause (there may be nothing to do at all), but it asks us to be in its presence. To site with it. Listen to it. To lay aside chronos and embrace kairos. [Kairos has to do with the quality of time, not with the passing of time] ... It's not a moment of weakness but of strength, and we need to be reminded to allow for these natural pauses in life. We will find that death sits at the heart of what it means to be human, and we mayjust find ourselves when we practice death Sabbath

I didn't always connect with everything he wrote, as much as did with this, but I always appreciated his thoughts and feelings around these issues.

One Perfect Lie

Finished May 24
One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline, read by George Newbern

This suspense novel takes some time to let the reader into what is truly going on. It starts as Chris Brennan is starting as a teacher and coach at a high school in small town Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia. We know that Chris is not who or what he says he is, but we don't know what his real identity is, and we don't find out for a while.
He is interested in a particular group of high school boys, those on the baseball team. He is looking for one that he can get close to, and influence in some way. He has his eye on three particular boys, and those three boys we learn more about, primarily through their mothers.
Raz is the son of Susan Sematov, an executive at the nearby outlet mall. Raz's father died recently and it has affected his normally easygoing and outgoing personality. Susan is worried about him, and his future. They were all hoping that he's be drafted by a good college for his pitching expertise.
Jordan has just made the varsity baseball team after working hard over the summer to improve his skills. His mother Heather Larkin has raised him on her own, working hard at the local country club. But the new ownership is changing the way she feels about her job, and she regrets not being able to go to any of Jordan's games. She worries about the effect some of his friends have, especially those that come from wealthy backgrounds. Evan is one of those kids. His dad bought him a new BMW that cost more than Heather made in the last year, and he seems to throw around his money recklessly. He's always on his phone, and is a boy that likes to party. His mother Mindy Kostis is worried about him and about her marriage. She'd caught her husband cheating before and they'd started fresh after therapy, but he's acting odd again, and she's scared it's starting again. She's afraid that Evan has grown secretive too, and she wonders what he's up to. She's determined not to use alcohol as a coping mechanism like she did during her earlier marital crisis.
As a reader, I wondered what effect Chris would have on these boys, and I didn't like some of his methods to find out more about them.
This is a novel of secrets, of people pretending to be something they aren't, and about families and their ways of communicating with each other. It's about learning to look for the good in people and doing the right thing regardless of what others might want you to do.
I enjoyed it.

Where Secrets Sleep

Finished February 18
Where Secrets Sleep by Marta Perry

This mystery novel begins as interior designer Allison Standish is going to the small Amish village of Laurel Ridge to see the building she has inherited from her grandmother. Allison never knew her grandmother and her father disappeared from her life without notice when she was six. Allison has a good relationship with her mother, stepfather and stepbrothers, but she has always felt a bit separate from the rest of her family.
In Laurel Ridge, she finds a community that is supportive and caring, but her inheritance comes with strings attached. As she learns about Amish life from her partner in the quilting store, she also learns more about her grandmother and her father. When things start to go wrong, and Allison is threatened, she finds that her new friends are more than protective of her. If someone is trying to scare her into going away, she is determined they won't succeed. With her new ties to the community, she is determined to get to the bottom of whoever is threatening the wellbeing of those who live there.
This story has mystery, romance, and self-discovery. As Allison learns about her family, she also learns about her own feelings about herself and her relationships, and as she begins to care about those she has come to know she wants to find how she fits into this community.

The Far End of Happy

Finished February 13
The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft, performed by Janet Metzger

This novel was inspired by a real life episode in the author's own life. As the book begins Ronnie wakes up in the guest bedroom of her home, on the morning that her husband is supposed to be moving out. This is a temporary measure, giving Ronnie time to find a new place to live for her and their young sons, while getting them out from sharing the same roof. Ronnie has grown more and more unhappy in her marriage, initially allowing herself to be stifled in her own career goals, then finding that her husband has kept secrets from her regarding his spending, their financial circumstances, his consumption of alcohol, and more. As he has grown more distant, their physical intimacy has also diminished, and Ronnie feels that she must begin again for her own good.
That morning, she finds her husband's bed not slept in, the TV blaring, and an accusatory note left in her office. As she gets the boys up and ready, her husband Jeff reappears, but it becomes obvious to all of them that he is drunk. As her youngest son Will takes it upon himself to intervene, her husband's unstable state of mind becomes clear. His car is stocked with alcohol and he threatens to kill himself with a shotgun.
This novel covers the next twelve hours as Ronnie, her mother, and her mother-in-law all examine the events that have led to this day. All three of them, as they wait under police protection in the nearby firehouse, look back at their relationships, their own struggles with life, and their questions about what more they could have done.
This is an exploration of depression from family members viewpoints, and about the complex feelings that exist when the help they want to give isn't accepted.

Road to Reckoning

Finished May 7
Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner, read by Holter Graham

This novel is told by a man looking back at the experiences of just a few days, experiences that changed his life forever.
The year is 1837. Thomas Walker is twelve and has lived in New York all his life. He has been homeschooled by his aunt who lives with him and his father. His father has often taken him with him as he went door-to-door selling spectacles. But his father has now decided to try selling Samuel Colt's new invention, the Improved Revolving Gun, and again he wants Thomas with him.
After visiting Colt's business in New Jersey, the two set off across Pennsylvania with their horse and wagon, sample merchandise, an order book, and supplies.
By chance, they come across a group of men looking for trouble, looking hard enough to follow the two travellers when they try to avoid such trouble, and Thomas' father is murdered, and most of his their belongings stolen.
Thomas goes back to the last two that they visited, to the shopkeeper they sold their last order to, and where they first met the men that attacked them. There, Thomas finds an older man, one with a long history of defying trouble, one who was once an Indiana Ranger. His name is Henry Stands, and he refuses the request to escort Thomas back east, to a town that has law that can take on Thomas' problem. But Thomas sees his chance, and takes matters into his own hands.
As the two go along, they find that it isn't just a matter of travelling back to the town with county lawmen, but they must also evade the thieves that have had second thoughts about letting Thomas go, and about other unsavory characters, some obvious, some not, that lie along their route.
This is a beautifully told tale, one of a boy forced into dealing with adult issues too soon, and dealing with a devastating loss. It is a tale of the history of the revolver, and the changes it brought to America. It is the tale of a man looking back, with the knowledge of the life lived since.

Keep Quiet

Finished November 17
Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline, read by Ron Livingston

In this novel we have the point of view of Jake Buckman. Jake is a financial planner, and has his own business, one he developed a few years back when he lost his job. He's doing well, but he's spent a lot of time focusing on his work and no longer has a close relationship with his son Ryan. Ryan is on his high school basketball team, and also a good academic student. Jake's wife Pam is a judge, a self-described good girl, and the one who keeps her family on track. She has been encouraging Jake to make efforts to get closer to Ryan and so Jake is picking Ryan up at the local movie theatre where he has seen a movie with his friends.
Ryan has had his learner's permit for some time and begs Jake to let him drive the car when they get to a quiet road in an industrial area. Jake is reluctant as he knows the time of night means it is outside the rules for Ryan to drive, but gives in hoping to make a connection to his son.
But, distracted by their animated conversation, Ryan looks away from the road for seconds on a blind curve and all of their lives are changed forever. At first, although horrified, Jake tries to do the right thing in the circumstances, but then Ryan reveals another piece of information that causes Jake to make a terrible decision that he thinks will protect his son.
As Ryan and Jake try to cover up what happened that night and deal with their emotions around this terrible incident, their secret widens.
This is a story of well-meaning parents, trying to do the best by their kids, but reacting with emotions rather than thought. A story of the nature of guilt. A story of family dynamics and the dangers of the modern world.
I found the resolution to be a bit too nicely worked out and thus felt manipulated. Not one of her better reads for me. Not a bad read by any means, but just not one of her best.
I have seldom discussed the reader in audiobooks, a failing I will be trying to address more going forward. Here I found Livingston's reading too lacking in emotion for me, a bit flat. He read clearly and matter-of-factly, but his reading didn't add to the story in any way. It was right that it was a male reader given the point of view, but felt too controlled.
The cover art also leaves something to be desired, not reflecting the relationships between the family as described in the book at all. Even the height of the woman, presumably meant to be Pam, in relation to the man, presumably Jake, isn't right. Minor points perhaps, but I like to see a cover that gives an accurate feel for the book I'm reading.

Don't Go

Finished June 12
Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline, read by Jeremy Davidson

In this novel Scottoline's main character is a man, a bit of a departure for her. Mike Scanlan is a podiatrist that served as an army doctor in Afghanistan. Leaving behind his wife Chloe and newborn daughter Emily, he has committed himself to his task. But when a tragedy happens back home, he finds that his wife didn't handle his absence well, and when he finally returns home, a hero, he has trouble adjusting to his new reality and finds himself struggling between learning the truth about what happened back home and doing what is best for his daughter.
This book tackles the issues of returning vets from PTSD to physical losses, from the differing reactions of those at home to how they feel about what they have been through, from pride in the work they did to guilt over those they left behind. Gripping and suspenseful, this book is another winner.