book ends

long delayed August reads

September has been a struggle. Nothing tragic, but I’m struggling. So talking about books must be a good idea, because it’s always a good idea.

The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry

If you’re in the market for your annual, or monthly, WWII historical fiction novel about a woman trying to make it in England then you’ve probably already read this one! I feel like this is becoming an entire genre, and frankly, it is catnip to those of us who want something cozy, historic, romantic, but not completely overwhelming in any of those genres themselves.

This novel centres around a London woman in the 1960s who remembers her time as a child evacuee during the Blitz and how her younger sister goes missing. As she tries to uncover whether or not her sister may still be alive she also is reunited with her former teenage love and of course you need to keep reading to see if they’ll get back together! The writing is fine, the plot fairly predictable, but if this is what you’re looking for I think you’ll find it a good read.

Talking At Night by Claire Daverley

A literary romance following a couple from their teen years into adulthood and the many ways they are kept apart yet keep coming together. That synopsis makes it sound as if this book is silly or trite, but Daverley is a wonderful writer and she walks a very fine line between realism and romance. I appreciated that the psychological depth didn’t stagnate the book, and I think that is in part because the book takes place over a long time period. It also wasn’t cloying or overwrought which drives me a bit insane in contemporary lit fic.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Yes, I’m an Ann Patchett fangirl. Of course I was here for a family drama that wasn’t completely dysfunctional. And the reading experience was lovely until the second to last chapter. The main character (who I can’t even remember the name of now!) reflects during the pandemic to her three adult daughters about her time as an actress and specifically her time in a summer stock production where she has a relationship to one man who would become a huge star and one man her future husband.

It feels great to read, the setting of northern Michigan and the cherry trees is delightful. But it becomes apparent quickly that Patchett isn’t going for depth or complexity in her characters. I thought all the characters were so shallowly drawn, and I kept waiting for the impact of their hidden secrets to somehow reveal what made them fascinating. But that never came, the characters were fascinating because the writing is pretty and effortless.

I won’t completely spoil the wrench the second to last chapter threw into the story, but to me it destroys everything prior. I felt it was an unearned plot twist that didn’t make sense to any of the characters, and actually left me feeling quite disturbed about the impact it would have on the characters of the daughters but of course that was completely unaddressed by Patchett. I understand that she’s a beloved author, but I don’t think we should give her automatic five stars simply because she’s Ann Patchett. I also felt so completely justified and affirmed when I read Amy Welborn’s review of the book.

So far as I can tell the only audiobook I finished in August was the third instalment of The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman, The Bullet That Missed. If you’ve never read the series it is a very entertaining, lighthearted murder mystery series about a group of elderly friends who solve murders together. The characters are worth the read alone even if the plots can sometimes be overly convoluted. I think this particular novel was my favourite of the series yet. Although this was a new narrator because I think Lesley Manville has just gotten too hot to read books lately, and the new narrator thinks to make a voice sound older you have to whisper a lot. Which…isn’t a great look for an audiobook narrator, you know?

And that was it! August really flew by and we were travelling and hosting and people got sick, so it felt like my usual reading times were upended!