Date the Alphabet

Finished November 14

Date the Alphabet by Laura Langa

This romance is the second book in a series set in Tucson. Here the female main character is a teacher in a private school, Ann Powell. Ann excels as a teacher because she really puts her heart into it. Not only does she work hard for her own students, but she offers free tutoring and donates supplies to teachers in the public system who are underfunded. She doesn't date, and doesn't socialize much. Her younger sister Rene is getting married, for the third time, and when they are discussing wedding details tells Ann that she must bring a plus one, and says that if she starts by working her way through the alphabet (by men's names) and finds true love, her sister will give her $4000 for her charitable work. 

Ann really doesn't want to do this, but agrees for the prize at the end. With the help of a fellow teacher who is a friend, Kennedy, she signs up to a dating app and begins. She finds a lot of duds, as well as some who leave her very unsettled. In a moment of desperation, she asks a student's father if he will attend with her and pretend they have fallen for each other. 

Zane West and his wife Tessa separated after her recovery from cancer, but remained great friends. She is about to move in with her new boyfriend Isaac, while he hasn't even dated yet. They both love their daughter Caroline, and worry about how she has dealt with the trauma of her mother's illness and their separation. They knew things weren't working for a while, but had been hanging together for Caroline. After Tessa's recovery they agreed that they deserved happiness and separated. Caroline is a quiet, but observant kid who loves art and draws a lot. 

Zane had been attracted to Caroline's third grade teacher since he first met her, but held back from any move due to worry about Caroline's feelings and about the ethics of dating his child's teacher. When Ann proposes that he be her fake date for Rene's wedding he agrees, but the events that they attend over the next few weeks have them both feeling the attraction.

I liked the plot, the details of their jobs (Zane is an audiobook narrator), and the touches of humour. There are other things influencing their actions and we come to see how and why they do gradually. A very enjoyable read. 

The Golden Mean

Finished March 2

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

This novel is narrated by Aristotle, the real historical figure, and creates a story around his time with Philip of Macedon, mostly taking place at the city of Pella. Philip had known Aristotle when they were both boys, and Aristotle arrives in Pella carrying a message from Hermias, the satrap of Atarneus under whose patronage Aristotle had been living. 

Along with Aristotle and his household, are his wife Pythias and his nephew Callisthenes. Aristotle soon meets Philip's sons, Arrhidaeus and Alexander, and is asked to work with both of them in very different ways. Arrhidaeus suffered an injury early in his life that damaged him, creating learning disabilities. Alexander is the golden child in many senses, spoiled, used to getting his way, and entitled. Aristotle is one of the few people who challenges him, and that creates an interesting dynamic. Aristotle covers many subjects in his teaching, but at the core of them is the idea of balance, the golden mean referenced by the book's title. 

We see Aristotle's personal life, his relationship with his wife, servants, slaves, and his nephew. We also see his inner thoughts about both this personal life and his more public responsibilities. 

Lyon makes her characters come to life, they have personality and flaws, and she has obviously researched the real people she portrays. 

This was her debut novel, and won the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, as well as being a finalist for the Giller. I found it a compelling read. 

Say You'll Be Mine

Finished February 9

Say You'll Be Mine by Naina Kumar

This romance is very engaging. The narration does vary between the two main characters. The main female character, Meghna Raman, is a Dallas-area middle grade English teacher who has long aspired to write plays, and is working with her students to do the school's first production, My Fair Lady. Her parents and brother are all engineers and, in the eyes of her mother, engineering is the only profession worth doing. Meghna has received the speech on this many times, but her mother launches a new one now, convincing her to marry an engineer. Meghna's parents are a love match, and they've never proposed any introduction before, but she finds herself faced with an arranged marriage proposal, a rishta, now. Perhaps it is because she is nearing thirty without a serious relationship. 

Karthik is a mechanical engineer working in New York City for a large engineering firm. He likes his work, but has pushed off serious relationships and any discussion of them for years. He has finally made a deal with his mother to meet marriage possibilities for a certain time period on condition that if he doesn't find someone she won't bring it up again. And Karthik has no intention of finding someone. He has seen his parents' marriage and has no desire for anything like theirs in terms of a relationship. He has been trying to be as little like his father for most of his life. That's partially why he chose engineering instead of medicine, with his father teaching at NYCU medical school. 

The meeting, at Meghna's parents' house goes well, except for Karthik telling her that he has no intention of marrying anyone when the two of them have their one-on-one. Yet he finds himself telling his mother he needs time to think about her as a potential wife instead of just saying no. And then he digs himself in deeper yet. 

So when he contacts Meghna with a proposal to move ahead with a fake relationship, he has to find something that they both get out of it. And Meghna has a secret that only her best friend Ankita knows that might be the motivation she needs. 

As their story unfolds, it seems that there are more secrets, from Karthik, Ankita, and parents on both sides. 

I liked learning more about some aspects of Indian culture as well as seeing this plot unfold. The characters of Meghna and Karthik are ones with some depth, and we see their vulnerabilities as well as their strengths. I also liked the character of Paul, an intern at Karthik's company. 

I had trouble putting the book down as I needed to see how things worked out. 

A Trick of the Light

Finished January 21

A Trick of the Light by Ali Carter

This mystery is part of a series featuring painter Susie Mahl. Susie specializes in landscape painting, but also has quite a reputation for her pet portraits. Here, she is invited to be the teacher at a small class hosted by the owner of a highland estate. The estate's large house will not only be the location for the classes, but will also provide rooms for all the participants. The estate owner, Fergus, Earl of Muchton, and his wife Zoe have arranged the course and the registration of participants. There are two scholarship students as well. 

The estate is a large one, and the house is large too, with several wings. There are issues with electrics, and the heating isn't up to par. One of the wings is closed off. As Susie gets to know her students and observes the people around her, she falls into her usual habit of curiosity, trying to learn more about everyone. Susie has recently learned some upsetting news from her parents, who she is close to, and she has been ghosted by a man she thought she might spend the rest of her life with. 

There are some triggers for her which appear in the plot. 

I found the art information very interesting. She discussed a lot of techniques for painting and how to approach it, that I found useful. The author is a painter herself and it shows. The plot was interesting and many of the characters were intriguing although only the main character had real depth. 

This was a fun and enjoyable read that I also learned a fair amount from. 

Book Fair and Foul

Finished October 29

Book Fair and Foul by Erika Chase

This is the fourth book in the Ashton Corners Book Club series, and the second one I've read. It is set in the small town of Ashton Corners, Alabama. Here Molly Mathews, the owner of the local bookstore, A Novel Plot, is preparing for her first annual Mystery Book Fair. It is a one day event, with four authors doing readings, signings, and a panel discussion. The local library director is acting as the moderator for the fair. Three of the writers have solid years of authorship, while one is a little newer to the game. Two of the female writers have a longstanding competitive relationship. They will staying at a local bed and breakfast, and Molly has included a couple of extra nights to let them relax and enjoy the area. 

Helping Molly are her fellow book club members. A couple of them are employees of her store, but others are mystery enthusiast friends. One of these is Lizzie Turner, who is a educational reading specialist at the local grade school. As the authors begin to arrive in town, an unexpected addition is added, Ashley Dixon, a publicist for the authors. Lizzie is disturbed by this as she has a history with Ashley that is far from pleasant. 

When Ashley turns up dead the day after the fair, Lizzie emerges as the prime suspect. They'd had a public argument the evening before and Lizzie decides that she must do what she can to clear her own name, even as her boyfriend Mark, the local police chief, assures her that he can't show favoritism in the case. 

I enjoyed the plot and the setting, although the fair certainly offered more than one would normally expect for the writers. 

Last Post

Finished October 8

Last Post by Robert Barnard

This stand-alone mystery follows a woman, Eve McNabb, who finds a letter among the various sympathy envelopes in the mail at her mother's house after her mother's death. The letter is anonymous, but hints at a relationship between the letter writer and her mother, May. It also refers to her father Ted, who Eve was told died when she was a child. 

Eve's mother was a skilled a popular teacher, who quickly became deputy, then head of their local school. She was involved in her community and a woman who was very competent and knew her own mind. Eve is saddened by her death as her mother had recently retired and they were starting to grow closer and spend more time together. 

As Eve follows clues to find the letter writer, she also begins to suspect that her father isn't dead after all, and she begins to question what her mother has told her. 

She begins to delve into her mother's past, her friendships, and her father's life.

This is a tale of loss, of discovery, and of the dangers of digging too deeply into the lives of others. 

I Will Ruin You

Finished July 22

I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay

This novel has lots of twist and turn that will keep you guessing. High school English teacher Richard Boyle looks out his classroom window one day and sees a man with what looks like explosives strapped to him approaching the school. He leaves the classroom abruptly, telling his students briefly to alert authorities and protect themselves and runs to try to intercept the man. He is able to avert a major tragedy, but recognizes that there is still a tragedy, and a motivation that the former student had to act the way he did. 

Unbeknownst to him, his appearance on the news triggers another situation, as he is approached by a man who tries to blackmail him based on supposed acts he did years before. 

As one would expect, this has a big impact on Richard, both in terms of thinking of ways to avert the situation or deal with it, and in terms of what this new accusation might say in terms of the actions of the first man in terms of validation. 

Richard's wife Bonnie, a principal at an elementary school is also dealing with a tragedy, the loss of the mother of one of her students. Bonnie's sister Marta, a police officer was involved with the case of the mother's death, and her investigations lead her towards a drug ring. 

As the two cases begin to connect, all involved will find themselves trying to protect those they care about as well as finding the truth. 

This is a novel that took a while to get me hooked, but that did engage me, both with the intriguing plot, and with the characters. 

The Summer without Men

Finished June 28

The Summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt.

This short novel is very engaging. Mia Fredrickson, the narrator and central character, had a breakdown after her husband of thirty years left her for another woman, a French woman that Mia refers to as 'The Pause'. She was hospitalized for a short time, diagnosed with a Brief Psychotic Disorder, and once she was well, decided to return for a few months to the small Minnesota town of her childhood. She rents a small house near the senior complex where her mother lives in a small apartment. She also gets a job teaching a group of teen girls poetry. 

Her mother has a group of friends that spend a lot of time together, and Mia thinks of them as the Five Swans. She regards them as women who "shared a mental toughness and autonomy that gave them a veneer of enviable freedom". We get to know these women. George is one hundred and two and has a great sense of humour. Regina is eighty-eight had married a diplomat and lived in several countries and had several relationships after her husband's death. Peg, at eighty-four spent her life in a smaller town nearby, and has six children and numerous grandchildren that she keeps detailed track of. Abigail, at ninety-four has osteoporosis and hearing issues, worked as a teacher, but is a textile artist with hidden depths that she gradually reveals to Mia. 

We also get to know the teenagers. Mia has taught graduate students for years, but she adjusts quickly to this younger group of students. Peyton, thin and tall, is still getting used to her longer limbs. Jessica is small but has a woman's body, and talks in a babyish voice. Ashley is self conscious, but confident of her developing body. Emma is shy. Nikki and Joan function in tandem and giggle a lot. Alice has moved recently from Chicago, and is interested in books and art. Mia teaches them three times a week for six weeks, giving them interesting exercises and prompts for their writing. 

Mia also starts getting anonymous emails that are nasty and critical. When she begins to engage with this unknown person, the conversation becomes very interesting. 

She also has emails with her husband Boris and her daughter Daisy. During the summer both Daisy and Mia's sister Bea visit her. 

She also engages with the family living next door to her house, Lola and Pete, and their children Flora, and Simon. Flora makes quite an impression with her stuffed animal menagerie and her Harpo wig. Lola makes and sells jewelry and is a calm and capable mother. Pete travels a lot for work and Mia seldom interacts with him. She hears the arguments between the couple and helps sometimes with the children when Lola gets overwhelmed. She describes Flora so well, I can see her in my head. 

Scattered throughout the novel are poems, some by other poets, some by the teen characters, but many of Mia's own, and this is part of the skill with language that Hustvedt has. She also has insights that touched me. One example is this:

Sitting across from her in the small apartment, I had the thought that my mother was a place for me as well as a person. ...But it was my mother herself whom I had come home to.

Her other insights about her mother were also interesting to reflect on. Mia cooks for her mother and visits, listening to her talk about earlier times in her life, and walks back to her rented house reflecting on her own life. She has weekly telephone sessions with her psychiatrist Dr. S. and spends time writing poetry. 

This is a novel that drew me in, that made me read slowly with attention, and that made me care about the characters. A gem. 

I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home

Finished February 3

I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore

This is a very unusual book. It is part letters from one sister to another, dating from the years shortly after the U.S. Civil War, and part modern day tale of a Chicago-area teacher struggling with loss. 

The book begins with a undated letter from Elizabeth to her unnamed sister. It tells of everyday events, include the nature that she witnesses, the male lodger in her home that is wooing her, the state of her finances, and visits from the local minister. She also invokes shared memories of earlier points in their lives. From the contents, and the words used, the reader can tell that this is a letter from a past time, and that it is not too long after the end of the Civil War. 

The next section is set in the present, as Finn moves through New York City to visit his older brother Max, who is in a hospice. We see not only what is happening as Finn sees it, but also his thoughts, which range from issues with his landlady and interactions with his Airbnb host to things he is reminded of by the sights and smells of the world around him. 

Once he gets in to his brother's room, the interaction between the brothers is also mingled with Finn's thoughts and observations. 

When Finn is called away by another crisis the book takes a turn for the surreal, and we begin to be unsure what is real and what isn't. We see Finn's personal issues, including the complicated love he has for Lily a woman he lived with for many years. 

Interspersed with Finn's story are the letters, and we eventually see the connections between them and his story. 

This is a novel of loss, of death, of how people deal with losing someone they care about, and about the uncertainty of life itself. 

If We Had Known

Finished January 22

If We Had Known by Elise Juska

This novel is set around a shooting in a small college town in Maine. The shooting occurs in a mall and the shooter is a recent graduate of the college. Maggie Daley recognizes the name of the shooter, Nathan Dugan, as a former student. She teaches English composition a required course that many of her fellow teachers resented because of the challenge of teaching students who didn't want to take English. But Maggie is an enthusiastic teacher who loved the challenge. The students wrote papers, shared them in class, and talked about them with each other. In many cases the topics were deeply personal and the experience was a meaningful one in their lives. Maggie loves her job and really enjoys getting the students enthused about writing about something important to them. After Maggie's marriage ended she begin seeing Richard, another teacher at the college, but he still lives with his wife even though he says their marriage is over. Because he is worried about his wife's mental health, he and Maggie have kept their relationship secret. 

While Maggie is at the center of the story, she is not the only voice here. Another is the voice of her daughter Anna, who is just about to leave for college herself. Maggie and her husband Tom divorced and Anna hasn't been taking it well. Anna has a history of anxiety issues that began a few years ago and that this event is somewhat triggering for. As Anna leaves home, and adjusts to college life, she finds a good friend in her roommate, but soon is triggered in another way by someone new in her life and finds herself struggling again.

A third voice in the story is Suzanne, Richard's wife, who can see that Richard is pulling away from her and suspects that he is having an affair. She had a brief contact with one of the shooting victims and finds herself reacting to the news with a lot of emotion. We see as she discovers who Richard is seeing and takes some action against Maggie. 

Another voice in this book is Luke Finch, who was in Maggie's class at the same time as Nathan. For some reason he doesn't fully understand himself, Luke posts on Facebook about his memories of Nathan and then is taken aback when the post goes viral. People start responding to it from all over, and Luke has a variety of reactions to it. Luke is living at home, working in a donut shop and dreaming of a different life. His sudden fame has him reacting, but not always in a way that is helpful for him.

As these four people try to move on with their lives, but find themselves connected in a variety of ways, we see how this terrible event has changed their circumstance so their lives won't be the same. 

Maggie struggles to figure out whether she should have or could have noticed that this young man would do something so awful and tried to help him. She isn't sure of her ability to connect with the students anymore and we see her become more and more isolated. With Anna at college, she is alone, and she cuts off most of the world. 

This is a book that looks at our connectedness to others and what our responsibility to each other is in a larger way. These four people react in different ways, some of them harmful to others, some harmful to themselves, as they try to figure out how to move forward from in their own lives. 

A gripping story. 

The Nodding Canaries

Finished October 28

The Nodding Canaries by Gladys Mitchell

This book is part of a long series that I've not read before. The Nodding Canaries is the 34th book in the series, but it seems like you don't need to read them in order to enjoy them. This book was originally published in 1961, shortly after it was allowed that female teachers could be married. The banter and slang used is dated, and in one or two cases offensive as current terminology. The sleuth here is Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, who is a psychiatrist who works for the Home Office in England. 

Here she is called to Nodding by Alice Boorman, a schoolteacher that is a longtime friend. Laura Gavin, Bradley's secretary, is a childhood friend of Alice's. Alice has recently applied to run for Organizer of the area, a much-sought after position by teachers. She has been shortlisted along with two other teachers, and she offered to host them around the interview time as they lived further away, one from Devonshire, and one from Scotland. 

Before the late afternoon interviews, the women toured the town, seeing the cathedral, the market, and some historical sites. One suggested the historical site of Pigmy's Ladder, a prehistoric flint mine. Alice did not accompany the other women into the mine as she had already been and felt claustrophobic, but when they didn't reemerge at the appointed time the site manager called for help and the women were found and taken to the hospital for their condition. Alice feels that a past past-time of hers makes her a possible suspect to them and has asked Dame Bradley to find out the truth behind the incident. 

This incident leads to a missing male teacher, his questionable past, historical artifacts, and the local archaeological society. 

This is a mystery with much twists and turns. Dame Bradley is a force to be reckoned with, and the men here defer to her with little hesitation. The mystery itself is complex and dates back some time, with a variety of suspects and motives to keep the reader guessing. 

Summer with a Star

Finished September 1

Summer with a Star by Merry Farmer

This is a feel good summer read. Elementary school teacher Tasha Pike spent many summers in the seaside town of Summerbury, Maine. One year, she and her best friend Jenny took shelter from a sudden rainstorm in the grand Victorian home called Sand Dollar Point. She's always dreamed of staying a whole summer in that house and she's saved for years to make the dream come true. 

Granted, she thought she'd be doing it with her fiance and childhood friend, but after recently catching him cheating and dumping him, she's relishing the time to get her head together and think about her future. 

Tasha is an excellent teacher, as we see her relating to children in the book, and she really enjoys her work.

When she arrives at Sand Dollar Point, she finds someone else already staying there, a famous actor, and soon learns that his agent paid a lot to steal the booking out from under her. 

Spencer Ellis is a Hollywood superstar, having appeared in many action adventure films, but he's reevaluating his image, looking for a different type of role, and thinking about his future. He asked his agent to find a quiet location for him to read over scripts and determine his forward path. 

When he discovers that his agent has stolen his summer spot from someone else, he offers to share the place with her for the summer. The house is large and they both intend to be pretty solitary over these months, so it shouldn't be an issue.

As they get to know each other, he discovers Tasha's history and she finds out the annoyances that come with being a star. They also discover commonalities and a definite attraction to each other. 

From time on the beach, exploring nearby nature sites, and reading, the summer passes quickly, but will the two characters see each other beyond this summer idyll.

A fun, fast read, that left me with a pleasant feeling. 

There was also a teaser for the second book in the series, which has me intrigued. 

The Summer Before the War

Finished July 10

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

This historical novel takes place mostly in the summer  of 1914 in the small coastal town of Rye in East Sussex. Agatha Kent is one of the women who makes things happen in the town. She is progressive to a degree and protective of her own. Often, her nephews, Hugh Grange and Daniel Bookham, spent their summers there. Agatha's husband John works in the government and gets down from London when he can. Hugh is studying to be a surgeon and Daniel is a poet, who aspires to larger literary pursuits with his friend Craigmore North.

Beatrice Nash has been living with her father's family since his death, but can't go on doing so. She was close to her father who was a writer, and she acted as his secretary and assistant for as long as she can remember, travelling widely with him. Agatha has arranged for her to take over as Latin teacher at their local school, and Beatrice is both thankful for the opportunity to make her own way, and a bit nervous at the prospect of teaching. 

Hugh has been tutoring three of the boys from the school in Latin, but is happy to hand them over to Beatrice for the summer. The boys: Jack, Richard (Snout), and Arty are to be tutored by Beatrice during that time. 

As Beatrice navigates the politics of the small town, and the responsibilities of her position, she also makes friends and tries for some small changes.

Another female in town who has pushed for Beatrice to be taken on as Latin teacher is Lady Emily Wheaton, who has two grown children, with her daughter married to a German duke. 

As the war begins, the men in town are drawn away to military pursuits and the women find themselves called in different directions. 

There are some scenes at the front with Hugh visiting Daniel and his unit there. 

This is a book that shows the ways of society before the this world-changing war, and gives a hint of the aims and dreams of the young generation that will end up giving the most in this war. We see the traditions of this rural community in the celebration of the hop harvest and the military parade of the local soldiers. 

The way the community welcomed some Belgian refugees was also interesting in many ways, and displayed prejudices and social commentary. 

This is a book that truly makes you care about several of the characters and brings them to life with their own personalities. From Snout to Agatha, and Beatrice to Hugh, we get a glimpse into their lives which will be changed forever. 

The Venice Sketchbook

Finished June 28

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen

This book caught my eye at the library when I was picking up some holds, and I ended up bringing it home and reading the whole book that same day. 

There is a short prologue in 1938 at the beginning, which sets the scene for a place and time that ends up being a key to the book's plot. From there the book follows three timelines. The first four chapters are from 1928, when 18-year-old Juliet Browning visits Venice as a gift from her aunt, and has an encounter that she will never forget. The book then moves to 2001, when Caroline Grant is facing the end of her marriage. Caroline and her husband both have degrees in fashion, but he has chosen to pursuit a career in design and recently travelled to the United States to follow that dream. As the book begins, we find that he has begun a new relationship there. The divorce is now final and Caroline will have their son Teddy during the school year, while Josh will have him for the summer and holidays. Caroline stays at her job at a women's magazine, but considers moving in with her grandmother and great aunt Lettie in the house she grew up in. When her great aunt dies, secrets get revealed and when an opportunity to investigate those secrets opens up to Caroline, her grandmother encourages her to take it. 

The story then moves back to Juliet Browning in 1938, where she returns to Venice as an art teacher accompanying her students. Several things have changed for Juliet since 1928, and while she longed to return to the city, she hasn't been able to until now. When she has a chance encounter that brings back feelings from her 1928 visit, she is once again tied to the city. Soon after, an opportunity to study abroad returns her to Venice, a move she makes despite the looming political situation.

As the 1938/39 and 2001 ones stories begin to connect, we find Caroline making interesting discoveries, and revealing possibilities that may change her own life. 

A book that encompasses romance, suspense, and intrigue, this book was one I had difficulty putting down. 

You Lucky Dog

Finished June 4

You Lucky Dog by Julia London

This novel has quite a few interesting characters, some adorable dogs, and a lively romance.The novel opens with a dog walker, with his many dogs in tow getting arrested as he sells drugs to a undercover cop. The result of this is that the friend who returns the dogs to their homes makes a mistake. 

Carla Kennedy is a woman struggling to get her PR business off the ground. She only has two  clients, one of which is a young high maintenance but promising fashion designer, and the other is a deluded woodworker who isn't open to change. Her parents have recently divorced, her sister is a panicky mom to several hard to control children, and she's recently become the owner of a depressed basset hound named Baxter.

Max Sheffington is a university professor and neuroscientist who's been doing research on autism and dogs. He was drawn to the subject because of his younger brother Jamie, who is autistic. Max is up for tenure again this year, and could really use the extra research funding that change in status could bring. He has his own dog, a cheerful and well adjusted basset hound named Hazel. 

Carla finds the dog left at her house more energetic and curious than she is used to, and soon realizes that this is not her dog. She takes it along to her client meeting and the dog ends up in the fashion shoot. 

Max also realizes that the dog left at his home isn't his. He finds it staring into a corner, seemingly uninterested in anything his dog usually does. He works hard to get it interested and tries different foods to get it to eat. Max has a weekend trip planned with his brother and is getting desperate for a dog sitter

When the two finally connect, they realize that their dogs like each other A LOT, and they quickly agree to some meetups for the dogs to play together. Carly also agrees to take both dogs for Max's weekend away. 

As the two get to know each other, and what each other's personal situation is, they find themselves connecting in other ways. 

There is lots of adorable dog stuff happening, as well as interesting pieces of fashion, autistic research, and PR processes. I liked the touches of humour, and the way the two main characters developed over the course of the book. This is an engaging and uplifting read, with some surprises along the way. 

Harley the Hero

Finished September 6

Harley the Hero by Peggy Collins

This picture book is based on a real service dog who assists a teacher. The children in the class in the story are taught to understand the role of service dogs and how to behave around them. Because they can't interact with Harley, their teacher's service dog while he is on duty, they write letters to him. Told from the point of view of one of the children in the class this story shows how he feels about Harley and his teacher Mrs. Pritchard, how one of his classmates Amelia interacts with Harley, and how Harley understands Amelia in ways that her classmates don't always. 

Harley has an Animail mailbox to receive the letters and gifts (including) that the children have for him. 

Their class is one of the quieter ones in the school due to Harley's presence. 

The story deals in particular with one day when some curtains caught fire and the children had to react to the danger. Even though the children have practiced what to do in an emergency, when the real thing happens, they aren't as organized as they expected. There is noise and smoke and it is distracting and scary. Harley stays focused though and he protects all the students, as well as Mrs. Pritchard. Harley is the hero of the day.

I liked the way the kids learned here, and how they reacted in realistic ways to a difficult situation. This is a good introduction to some things that are important to know about service dogs as well.

Juliet's Answer

Finished April 8

Juliet's Answer by Glenn Dixon

This memoir captures just over a year in Dixon's life, one where he made choices that changed the trajectory of his life. He had heard about an organization in Verona, Italy called the Club Di Giulietta, that had taken on the task of responding to the thousands of letters sent to Juliet. The majority of these letters were about relationships, and they arrived in many different languages from all over the world. 

Glenn had been teaching Shakespeare to high school students in Canada for two decades and had managed to get permission to view the near-perfect second quarto of the play Romeo and Juliet at the British Library on his way to Verona. He had arranged to volunteer during the summer holidays at the Club, answering some of the letters. 

Glenn's story gives background on his life, both as a teacher and his personal life, falling for a woman who only sees him as a friend. 

Near the end of his summer in Verona, he writes his own letter to Juliet, looking for guidance on approaching this woman one more time given that they are both single and unattached. 

The book takes us through the next year of his life, showing him teaching the play Romeo and Juliet to a high school class, with the interactions between him and the students, and how their personalities come into their reactions to the play. It also shows him making the decision to start a new phase of his life, and to begin that, at the end of the school year, he arranges to return to Verona and volunteer as one of "Juliet's secretaries" once again.

There is a simple map of Verona showing the points of interest related to his time there, and a section of photographs as well. 

This is a story of reflection and self examination as Glenn evaluates his life and makes the choice to move in a new direction. 

He gives interesting information on Verona and its relationship to the story of Romeo and Juliet and the other people he meets that run or are involved with the Club. I also found his teaching with the students as they worked their way through the play very interesting, taking their time and really thinking about what was happening and what it meant. 

Breathless

Finished February 14 

Breathless: An American Girl in Paris by Nancy K. Miller

This memoir is by a professor of women's studies looking back on her early adult years as she tried to follow a dream inspired by movies set in Paris. For her, this time was a time of experimentation, of rebellion against her parents' expectations, and a time of trying to figure her life out.

She began relationships with men, sometimes inappropriate ones. She taught and went to school, she wrote and read, she listened to music and learned about food. She explored her sexuality and tried to figure out what she wanted in a partner.

Not all her choices were good ones, but she threw herself into these things she tried, and made an attempt to look at them objectively. 

The time is the late 60s and early 70s, and she was not alone in her explorations. She met, became friends with, and had relationships with other expat Americans, some of whom she kept in touch with for years. She lived in a variety of housing situations, and visited other European places on occasion.

She is half a generation older than me, and some things she did I can't relate to at all, especially as we have quite different backgrounds. 

She grew up in a secular Jewish family who had a reputation to uphold, and friends in Paris. This gave her access to the life of real Parisians, but she also spent a lot of time with other students her own age, both Jewish and otherwise. 

It was an interesting read.

Hearts of Stone

Finished January 3
Hearts of Stone by Simon Scarrow

This novel jumps between two time periods, late 2013 and World War II. In the more modern time period, Anna is a high school history teacher in London and it's nearing Christmas break when she gets an email from a man, Dietrich Muller, in Germany asking if she is Anna, and if her grandmother was Eleni. At first, Anna is wary, but after doing some research, she listens to his story. 

It goes back to 1938 in Greece, on the island of Lefkas, where Eleni is from. Dietrich's grandfather Peter, and great-grandfather Karl were on the island doing an archeological dig led by Karl. Eleni's father was the police inspector in the main town there and thus they met, and the teenagers, Peter, Eleni, and her friend Andreas, spent a lot of time together and became friends. 

Karl was called back to Germany as things got more tense, and Andreas joined the navy shortly after. We then follow Andreas and Eleni on their journeys during the war, as Anna talks to her grandmother and finally gets her to open up about that time in her past. Dietrich's knows Peter's story from the diaries he left behind, and they share how those stories diverge and intersect.

The island of Lefkas is the setting for most of the historical part of the story, and I got a good sense of both the land and the people who lived there. This was a horrific time for them as they were occupied first by the Italians and then by the Germans, both of whom took much of the food there for themselves. The islanders natural resistance to this made reprisals common, and this created a cycle of tragedy and loss. The author also ties in more ancient history to the story through archeology and the long history of the Greek people. 

I really enjoyed this book and even though it is a long book, I read it fairly quickly. 

The London Restoration

Finished November 17

The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan

This novel takes place in the fall of 1945, with some flashbacks to earlier times during World War II. The two central characters are a married couple who must find their way emotionally to each other. They got married during the war and have only had a few visits since then, and have never lived together. Diana Somerville (nee Foyle) is a student of architecture, church architecture in particular. She loves the churches of Christopher Wren, but is interested in all churches. She is therefore a fount of information on the churches. Brent Somerville, her husband is a professor of theology at King's College in London. His specialty is the gospels by the apostles. The two met in a churchyard, where he was eating lunch and sketching his surrounding and she was admiring the architecture and made the first move in their relationship by approaching him. 

During the war, knowing that she would be bored by many of the tasks available to young women, one of Diana's professors recommended her for secret work at Bletchley Park. They preferred single women, so even though she recently married Brent, she signed up under her maiden name. There she worked on breaking codes, using her knowledge of German and other skills from her education. Brent knew that she worked for the Foreign Office, but wasn't aware of her secret work. He worked as a medic and orderly, transporting wounded, and near the end of the war was wounded himself. He still has trauma related to his experiences and hasn't shared the extent of his PTSD with Diana. 

At the end of the war, Diana's superior Simon asked her to do some work for him relating to a new challenge that he sees for the country, the threat of communism and Russian tactics. She has gone to Austria on this mission for two weeks, missing Brent's homecoming. 

With Brent not aware of what she has been doing, nor of what she was away in Austria for, there is a barrier that has been raised between them. With Brent not sharing his own war experiences, there is also a barrier from his end. The young couple are very much in love, and very smart people, but they must feel their way into this new phase of their relationship. 

When you add that Diana's recent actions may put them in danger, this novel offers a lot of suspense. I hadn't read this Canadian author prior to this and enjoyed the book.