Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
3.75 stars
This is only the second book I've read by Megan Miranda, but it won't be my last (shout out to my coworker and fellow book lover Karla for pushing books on me). A year and a half after she went to jail for murdering her neighbors while they slept, Ruby Fletcher's conviction is overturned and she returns to the small lakeside community that betrayed her and believed the absolute worst of her. Harper, finding herself living with the woman everyone believes is a murderer, begins to investigate to determine the truth underneath the neat story the community held to. Suspicion and mistrust spread through the community and claim more victims along the way. This book is a slow burn and, while I enjoyed it, it took me a bit more time to get through as a result. I also guessed a couple of the twists, which is totally fine, but took a little of the fun out of it for me.
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
4.5 stars
Set in the Penobscot community in Maine, this collection of interconnected stories truly lived up to the hype. As you may have seen, Talty has won all the awards for this beautiful collection, and for good reason. The stories range in length and tone—some lighter and humorous, others heavier and darker—but they all exist in a beautiful and complicated world of community. If you enjoy Elizabeth Strout's interconnected stories in Olive Kitteridge, the intimate look at what it means to live in a Native American community and carry the weight of the past in Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman, or the simultaneously irreverent and sacredly caring tone in the FX show Reservation Dogs, pick up this book immediately.
Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
3.75 stars
Set in 1940s Hollywood, the story follows a band of unlikely comrades employed by Mercury Pictures, a flailing studio just trying to stay afloat in pre-war entertainment. When Pearl Harbor is attacked, Mercury Pictures finds themselves in the lucrative and successful business of pro-war propaganda films. The problem is that many of the employees of the studio look like the enemies in their films: A Chinese-American actor, routinely targeted due to anti-Asian sentiments, a German woman who fled her Nazi husband, and an Italian woman who escaped Italy with her family as Mussolini came to power. My main problem with this book was the length, which made it feel a bit rambling for my taste. Even still, the writing is fantastic and the characters have stayed with me. If you enjoy historical fiction and want a fresh take on a WWII novel, give this one a try.
In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune
4.5 stars
Available on April 25, this imaginative retelling of Pinocchio was just the heartwarming diversion my reading life needed. Deep in the forest, in a whimsical treehouse home, Victor Lawson, a human, lives with three robots: Giovanni Lawson, an extremely human-like android and the only father Victor has ever known, Nurse Ratched, a salvaged (and slightly sociopathic) healthcare machine, and Rambo, a sentient and very anxious Roomba. Their lives together are filled with generally safe adventure, camaraderie, and peace, but when Vic, Nurse Ratched, and Rambo reanimate a mysterious android (named Hap, or Hysterically Angry Puppet) they found in the scrapyard, their lives are turned upside down. If you've loved Klune's other books, or are looking for something full of delight, love, and adventure, go ahead and preorder. Special thanks to Tor Books and Netgalley for the ARC! (FYI: Do note that this one is a bit more adult in tone than The House in the Cerulean Sea or Under the Whispering Door, in my opinion.)
Love & Saffron by Kim Fay
3.5 stars
When 20-something Joan sends a fan letter to 50-something Imogen after reading one of her columns in a Pacific Northwestern magazine, they strike up an unlikely pen pal friendship that extends far beyond the pages of their letters. Told in an epistolary format, we see the women's friendship blossom and deepen through a shared love of food and cooking (including sharing hard-to-get ingredients like saffron). Ultimately, Joan and Imogen's friendship sustains them through good and bad times, through moments of national crisis (e.g., the Cuban missile crisis) and deep personal trauma. It's a lovely little novel about love, loss, friendship, and the kind of community found around food. My main complaint is just that this book was too short and therefore felt a little incomplete to me. I wanted more time with these two friends.
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
4 stars
I don't know that I would have been drawn to a novel set in the 1600s on Martha's Vineyard, but I already loved Brooks because of Horse (which was one of my favorite reads of 2022), so I jumped right in. Bethia Mayfield dreams of the kind of education afforded to her rather dim-witted brother. Because her father refuses to allow her to become educated, Bethia seeks out knowledge her own way when she's sent out to forage for food along the coastline. On one of her excursions, she comes across the young son of a Wampanoag chieftain, to whom she gives the name Caleb, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. They learn each other's languages and customs and see each other as siblings, despite their differences. Through many ups and downs, Caleb ultimately becomes the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665, which is the real historical fact that inspired the whole novel. While not my typical historical setting of choice, I loved the richly drawn characters and settings (particularly the New England coastline) and it solidified my desire to read more of Brooks' novels.
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
4.5 stars
A Parisian WWII setting and a story that centers around books and reading? Sign me up. In 1939, Odile has achieved her wildest dreams of working as a librarian at the American Library in Paris. Plus, she has a wonderfully close relationship with her twin brother, her parents support her, and she's in love with a doting police officer beau. When the Nazis arrive and occupy her beloved city, Odile fights back by distributing and protecting the books that are her life's work. When the war has ended and Paris is free from the occupation, Odile dreams that her life will return to its old beauty, but some betrayals run too deep to mend. A dual timeline novel, we also see Odile in the 1980s, living her middle to older years as a widow alone in Montana, still dealing with the deep pain she's lived with for 40-odd years. After reading this, I've decided I must go back to Paris to visit the American Library.
The Life Council by Laura Tremaine
4.5 stars
Friendship as an adult is weird and I have had my share of ups and downs, particularly post-college. This short and well-written book unpacks some of the reasons so many of us feel like our friendships are lacking and provides a helpful lens to see what our relationships bring to our lives and what we bring to our friends' lives too. I'm not usually a self-help reader and I don't like prescriptive books (how do they know what I need?), but I do appreciate books that help me see things through a different perspective, books that make me think a little differently than I had before, and that's exactly what this book does. If you've ever had adult friendship angst, I think you may find this book helpful. It's definitely being marketed to women (the subtitle makes that explicit: "10 friends every woman needs"), but I think the principles in this book could apply to anyone. If you're interested, heads up that Tremaine extended her pre-order bonuses until Sunday, April 9, at midnight, including a great special secret podcast that accompanies the book!
