September Read: :How Can I Help You? by Laura Sims

 

I don't know too many librarians who don't want to read this novel--about a librarian, set in a library, written by a librarian. Oh, and it includes murdering misbehaving patrons. SHHHH.

Dear Margo. She's a nondescript middle-aged woman who's worked as a circulation librarian at the Carlyle Library for the past two years. She's efficient, helpful, and keeps to herself. Her past as Jane, a nurse, is far behind her. She still seethes a bit over the injustice of hospital administration and how she was treated, but she's managed to simmer down and build a new life far away from all of that. 

And then Patricia (Pa-tree-see-a) walks in--young and polished; the new reference librarian. Margo doesn't really care for Patricia at first-she is a change in the pleasing, calming routine Margo has created for herself. She's a ripple Margo doesn't need. 

Patricia is a newly minted librarian, and this is her first job. She's escaped a dismal relationship in Chicago, along with the crushing failure of a rejected novel she's written and no one wants to publish. Desperate to try something new, she's moved to Carlyle--a dull, boring, Midwest town. 

Margo is intrigued by Patricia--what exactly does she do all day at the reference desk? Why is she always writing in her little notebook? Patricia is also intrigued by Margo--those odd flashes of coldness in her eyes; the careful stillness about her. Not to mention that very weird episode in the women's bathroom, where a patron died and Patricia saw Margo acting very, very strange. 

It doesn't take Patricia long to figure Margo out--and oh, what a story to write! But she's torn--does she tell the police now, or after she's finished writing her novel? Will it ruin her chances at a successful novel? 

The tension increases between the two women, even as they share tidbits of their lives with each other. Margo's restlessness is coming back, and she's itching to return to those heady feelings of helping folks...die. 

This was one heck of a short novel. Margo is truly a psychopath, and her mental dialogue along with her belief she's innocent are disturbing. Patricia seems like a harmless person, but her inner dialogue definitely makes you a bit uneasy, too. Two peas in a pod? 

Most of the action takes place in the library, with a few key scenes at the apartment complex both Margo and Patricia live at; the library references are spot on and the patrons--well, yes, they're definitely shaped by real-life interactions as a librarian. 

If you want to read a quick thriller, this is the one. Margo/Jane is truly one unsettling character. I found myself lingering over her chapters, trying to dig a bit deeper to figure her out. Patricia is someone you think you want to know, but by the end, I'm not so sure. It would be an interesting book to discuss with a group. 

Rating: 5/6 for a psychological thriller that builds in tension, so much so that I was almost reluctant to turn the pages! "How Can I Help You" takes on a whole new meaning in this small town library. 

Available in hardcover, audio, and e-book.

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September Read: :How Can I Help You? by Laura Sims

December Read: The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

 

This was my third book for the Iowa High School Battle of the Books. While it was the shortest novel out of the three, it took me the longest! 

I enjoy suspenseful, thriller fiction, but I hadn't read any of Megan Miranda's novels until this one. My hopes were high...and darn it all they were a bit deflated. 

Arden Maynor became an overnight sensation as a small child when she disappeared from home one night and days later was found clinging to a storm drain in a drainage ditch. The story was that she was sleepwalking and was swept away by rainwater, and somehow miraculously survived days trapped in this drain. Arden and her mother became famous. 

Now the twentieth year anniversary is coming up, and Arden is now Olivia, living miles away from Widow Hills. She's an administrator at a local hospital, and still, to this day, her memories of what happened are fuzzy. She only wants to forget. That fame twisted her mother, who Olivia stopped speaking to a few years back. Now she is notified her mother is dead, and a box arrives with her mother's paltry collection of things. 

Olivia has trouble sleeping, and finds herself once again sleepwalking-and one night, she wakes up outside and stumbles on a body in her yard. WHAT? 

That's where this thriller starts ramping up. It takes a while for the action to get moving, and that was frustrating to me. Olivia is the ultimate unreliable narrator, because she just can't remember anything about the past, and she's chronically tired and drinks wine to help herself fall asleep. So is she paranoid, or does she have legitimate concerns when she feels like she's being watched? Living in a house out in the sticks, with only one close neighbor also adds to her sense of isolation. 

It was only after I'd finished the book, and discussed it with another person who also read it, that I began to think "okay, it actually was a better than I thought read." Before that, I was not that thrilled with it. The end seemed rushed, after the slooooow build up of action. Not only are you trying to figure out what the heck is going on in present time, but there are bits and pieces of the story of Arden's rescue from twenty years before sprinkled before chapters to help you get a better picture of what happened. It is important to read those!

So, I am on the fence with this one. I will probably read another Megan Miranda novel to see if this was just an off read for me. It's definitely a book you will have to discuss with someone else, and pick it apart. There's a lot going on here, and a lot of dots to connect. 

Rating: 3/6 for a thriller that has pacing problems, and an unreliable narrator that makes it feel like you're walking into walls trying to piece it all together and follow the story. That may be deliberate on the author's part, but I found it to be a bit too much. It's an interesting look at how the media can affect a life and the damage it can do to ordinary people. 

Available in paperback, ebook, and audio. 

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December Read: The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg

This is the first in a series, and I've looked at it for a while and finally bought it a few months ago. 

I have to say Sherlock Holmes novels always make me feel like I'm just not that observant.  It's like a test on every page! And this mystery was no different. 

It's 1914. Sherlock Holmes has recently died, and Watson is an elderly retired physician, lost in the memories of all the cases he and Holmes solved in their glory days. Now Watson's son, John Jr. (a physician) makes sure his father is taken care of at 221b Baker Street, the same apartment where Holmes lived. A woman visits, asking for Watson's help. Her brother has recently died--jumped from a window to his death. She, however, doesn't believe it was a suicide, and asks for help to clear her brother's name. 

Two witnesses to the death--a young mother and her son, turn out to be Joanna  and Johnnie Blalock. Joanna is Holmes' daughter, the product of a one night affair between Holmes and Irene Adler; adopted after Irene dies shortly after giving birth to Joanna. Watson knows exactly who she is, and wow, she is as intellectual and brilliantly observant as her father and mother. 

Watson, John Jr., and Joanna soon begin digging into the mysterious suicide of Charles Harrelston, and quickly find a culprit: Dr. Christopher Moran. It seems pretty cut and dried, but this quickly became much more complicated and in-depth than I expected. There are more deaths, a secret code, old war secrets, and a race against time before Dr. Moran claims his final victim. 

My only issues were the "romance" between Watson Jr. and Joanna. It seemed kind of dumb and just thrown in for no good reason. And not much of a romance, either. Also, I was a bit annoyed at all the men being astounded at Joanna's ability to decipher clues and figure things out. Come on! Women are smart! 

I'l probably read more in the series--there are at least another 2-3 in the series after this first mystery. 

Rating: 4/6 for a good mystery that kept unfolding. A few things annoyed me, but overall a satisfying beginning to a smart series. 

Available in paperback, audio, and ebook. 

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The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

Anyone who scoffs at the notion of reading a graphic novel simply hasn't read one. They are just as powerful and impactful as a book that's full of words, page after page. Roz Chast had me reliving some painful parental moments in her graphic novel, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

We all hope our parents live long lives, and that we have time to get to know them as people when we grow up and become adults ourselves. But as our parents age, and live longer than their parents and grandparents did, we're faced with increasing angst as parents who always were strong, independent, sharp, and ruled the household become frail and forgetful. 

Roz Chast outlines that very situation. For her, it's even more difficult, as she's an only child who doesn't live near her parents. And her parents are a handful. Elizabeth and George have been married for decades; her mother is a force, while her father is quiet. They do everything together. They've lived in the same apartment in Brooklyn since Roz was a baby. And neither of them want to talk about death, wills, money, or future care. Their routine is set in stone and they don't like change. 

There were times when I felt like I was reliving some of the same conversations I had with my Mom when I was reading this memoir. And it's always one significant medical issue that is the start of the end, and you know it when it happens. The end can be years away, but you're aware of that one specific moment when you realize it's the beginning of the end. Roz's memoir is full of that tug of war between parent and child as their mental acuity declines, and is replaced with anger and bewilderment. Faced with cleaning out her parents' apartment, Roz is just overwhelmed, and realizes that most of it is just junk. What her parents refused to throw away, and what they thought valuable, was only valuable to them, and now they don't need it or even remember they have it. I can say going through your parent's lifetime (and your family's lifetime) of things is both frustrating and heartbreaking. It adds a permanent bit of sadness to your soul. 

Roz's relationship with her mother is a strained one, and there is one moment where she says:

I left her room. Walked through the tasteful lobby of the Place as if everything was fine. Walked to my car. When I got in, I cried. The bellowing quality of the sobbing and the depth of the sadness I felt surprised me. I was angry, too. Why hadn't she tried harder to know me? 

But I knew: if there had ever been a time in my relationship with my mother for us to get to know one another--and that's a very big "if"--that time had long passed.

**Cue the ugly cry**

I found this graphic novel to be powerful and poignant. Roz mixes in photos of her parents, along with some of her mother's poems. I'd recommend it to anyone who has aging parents, or has already gone through this process and feels they were all alone and feeling the frustrations and sadness that no one else would understand. There are plenty out there who do understand. 

Rating: 5/6 for an accurate portrayal of caring for aging parents, and the struggles both emotionally and financially that adult children face--without the guidance of those we look to the most-our parents. Don't be put off because it's a graphic novel. That's what makes it a powerful memoir. Read it. 

Available in hardcover and paperback. This was a National Book Award Finalist. That's a pretty amazing accomplishment. 

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Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

I'm ashamed to say it's taken me years to finally read this book, and I read it because I picked it for a book talk at work.  In light of today's climate regarding immigration, it's even more relevant today than when it was first published in 1997.  

At its core, this book is about the struggle to understand cultures other than our own.  Not understanding or even trying to understand; believing that our culture is the "best" culture and our medicine is infallible can lead to tragedy, as it did in the case of Lia Lee.   

Lia's parents and older siblings came to California from a refugee camp after fleeing Laos after the Vietnam War, where many Hmong were recruited by the CIA to fight for the American side both on the ground and as trained pilots.  They believed they would be taken care of by the Americans after the war; coming to America was an obvious choice for them. Lia's parents, Foua Yang and Nao Kao Lee didn't speak, write, or read English.  They came to Merced, California because there was a large Hmong population and, most importantly, family.  Lia was their first child born in America, in 1982. Lia began have seizures after a few months at home.  Her parents believed a dab (an evil spirit) had taken her spirit away, and that is what made her sick.  Their culture also believed that those who had this sickness were special, and would be a shaman.  Not only did the shaman have special abilities to fetch a spirit back to an ill person, but they had empathy for those who were ill, because they themselves suffered from seizures.  

The medical staff at Merced Community Medical Center weren't trained to deal with different cultural beliefs, and the Hmong population in Merced was a whole different ball game for them.  Lacking interpreters at the hospital, the language barrier was most of the time insurmountable.  What was most difficult, far and away, was the lack of understanding of the spiritual medicine the Hmong believed in; it was at the core of their culture.  The modern medicine and practices at Merced were at odds with what Lia's parents felt was the right course of treatment for their daughter.  

This lack of understanding proved diastrous to Lia and her family, and to the doctors who treated Lia.  Anne Fadiman explains all of this thoroughly, spending time with the Lee family, the doctors and other medical staff who treated Lia.  She spent four years pouring over medical reports, staff notes, and the history of the Hmong as a people.  

Written in 1997, the updated paperback version has an new afterword from the author, written 15 years after the first publication.  She updates us on all of the major players in this saga, including the creation at Merced Community Medical Center of a new program that allows shamans to conduct rituals for Hmong patients. While there is still much to do regarding effective communication and understanding between cultures, this is a great start and a big step forward.

This book is, ultimately, about one family's love for their daughter. It is the tragic nightmare that resulted from everyone trying their best to heal and protect her, but no one asking the important questions and bridging the gap between two vastly different cultures to come to a mutual understanding.  It is powerful, moving, and a testament to the importance of belief, spiritualism, and familial love.  

Rating:  9/10.  

Available in paperback, audio, and e-book.      

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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

5 Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

Hurricane Katrina seems like it happened so long ago that it's easy to forget just how devastating it was to New Orleans, and how they are still recovering from the destruction and rebuilding communities. Reading this book was a powerful reminder of how complex and difficult decisions were made in extremely trying circumstances, and how horribly unprepared we are for disasters.  

August 28, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  While there was a mass evacuation, hospitals and hospital workers had to stay; hospitals had to remain open to serve those who were ill, and anticipate more coming into the hospital for care during and after the storm.  Memorial Medical Center had weathered many hurricanes and storms before; it had been part of the community since 1926.  People would leave their homes and bunk down in the hospital for safety; medical staff brought their pets and family members to the hospital to stay while they worked through the storm.  There was plenty of food and water; a few uncomfortable days and it would all be over.   

Except the levees broke, and the streets were flooded.  Memorial quickly became an island.  Staff worked feverishly to evacuate patients, and some managed to get out.  Generators quit working early Wednesday morning; overwhelming heat, darkness, and exhaustion worked on everyone.  Missed and wrong communication, rumors of martial law, and hearing sounds of gunfire scared everyone.  They felt abandoned by the city, state, and the owners of the hospital, Tenant.  Decisions were made that would result in suspicious deaths and a doctor and two nurses being arrested for second degree murder. 

What happened at Memorial?  Why did people die, and why did it take so long for an evacuation to take place?  How could the hospital have been better prepared?  This is a compelling read, and what might seem like a fairly easy choice to make isn't so easy.  I don't think any of us can possibly understand the circumstances because we weren't there.  I read this book a few days ago and I still don't know how I feel about what happened.  It is a book that you will have to talk about with others.  I recently presented this book at work as part of my Lunch and a Book talks.  I had a great audience, and we had very interesting discussions on medical ethics, preparedness, and the complex issue of "do not resuscitate".  

Everyone should read this book.  Whether you're in health care, or someone who cares for elderly parents, or loved ones with health issues.  We all will end up in a hospital at one or more points in our lives.  

One thing I will say about this book, is that the author clearly believes homicide did happen.  She does a good job of trying to see all sides, but there are so many people, and incidences, and hearsay that it can get a bit confusing sometimes.  There is a list of people in the front of the book, and a map of the hospital, including the route from the second floor to the helicopter pad on the roof.  They do help visualize the place and give some organization to the players.  

Rating:  8/10 for a compelling look at a human disaster that could have been prevented.  Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster that couldn't be helped; but the lack of planning and action resulted in a terrible nightmare.  

Available in paperback, hardcover, audio, and e-book.     

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5 Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home by Jessica Fechtor

Here I am, again with the food writing memoir.  I can't help myself.  I've undergone a bit of a change regarding how I look at food lately, but I don't think it will keep me from reading foodie books.  

Yes, I started to exercise.  And with that exercise comes a new way of eating.  Minimal if no grains, sugar, and dairy.  I look at food and instead of saying "Get in my belly now!" (any Austin Powers fans out there?), I think about where the food came from, and how far from its natural state it has morphed.  I'm sticking to a high protein/low carb way of eating.  Lots of veggies, fruit, and meat/fish.  Struggling with the fish thing, since I'm not a huge sea creature person.  After 5 weeks eating this way, my guts feel better, and I've managed to stamp down my cravings for sugar and breads.  I will continue to eat this way for the foreseeable future because it is working for me.  I'm losing weight and I feel good about the choices I'm making when I eat.  Drinking lots of water, too.  I'm an emotional eater, and I didn't really discover that until I was in my late 20's.  Until then, I could eat what I wanted and nothing ever stuck.  Grief from losing loved ones,  as well as a work schedule that had me working all sorts of hours made my eating a mess.  Now I've finished school, have a routine work schedule, and the time to work on undoing the mess I've made of myself.  It's not easy, but I've seen a change and that is motivation to keep going.  

But--I still admire people like Jessica Fechtor who have such rich memories of cooking with family and associating dishes with special times.  I think we all have that--those cookies Grandma made; the special dishes Mom made at the holidays and only at the holidays.  Those memories and that food brought Jessica back from a horrible medical situation that could have killed her.  

Jessica was healthy and in shape.  She was at a convention, and running on a hotel treadmill when she had a sharp pain in her head and found herself lying on the floor next to her treadmill.  A trip to the hospital and a stay in ICU turned into a nightmare:  she had experienced a brain aneurysm, and had a bleed in her brain.  Surgery was required.  

Jessica's journey to health was a rocky one.  Even though that surgery was a success, she had quite a few setbacks:  partial blindness meant a return to surgery within the day to fix her skull; an infection a few weeks later meant another major surgery on her head.  Through all of this, Jessica's husband Eli and her family kept her company, encouraged her to eat, and willed her to get better.  She never gave up, and neither did her family.  She shares recipes in her memoir for dishes that have a special place in her heart, and helped her heal.  Some are as simple as roasted chicken, biscuits,  and pasta with morels and peas.  Others are a bit more  work, such as the Cleveland Cassata Cake.  

It got me thinking about dishes that I hold dear to my heart, and are the ultimate comfort for me:  chicken soup, scalloped potatoes and ham, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  We all have our favorites.  And they can heal our physical selves and soothe our battered souls.  

Jessica's tale is amazing and a lesson in perseverance, faith, and the healing comfort of home.  She's a food blogger, and you see the birth of that as well.  Visit her blog Sweet Amandine  to get some great recipes and see Jessica's life today.  

Rating:  7/10 for a tale of food, medicine, and home.  

Available in paperback, hardcover, audio, and e-book.

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Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home by Jessica Fechtor

In the Light of What We See by Sarah Painter

I am lucky to have found another author who writes in a genre that is one of my favorites: magical reality.  Sarah Painter has written three novels, and I have them all on my Nook.  An opportunity to read and review this, her third book, had me hitting "Buy Now" to grab her first two: The Secret of Ghosts  and The Language of Spells (there is also a novella available as a 'prequel').  

This novel has two stories and two female characters living in different times, but bound by a place and a nagging sense of danger.  Grace, in 1938, has begun work as a nurse at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, England.  She has disgraced her family by getting pregnant.  Unfortunately for Grace, the pregnancy was a result of a rape by a family friend.  Telling her parents about the pregnancy sent her father into a rage against the humiliation his family faced having such a bad girl, and he kicked and punched her until she lost the baby.  With no happy life ahead of her staying with her family, she fled to Brighton for a second chance.  Quiet and reserved, she struggles to be a nurse in a place where long, difficult days on her feet exhaust her, and a fear of being dismissed keeps her on her toes.  

In present day, Mina works at the Royal Sussex Hospital as a radiologist.  She's not a terribly happy person, and is in a relationship with her boss, Mark,  but is trying to end it.  Mina ends up in the hospital as a patient after a bad car wreck.  She's had head injuries, a damaged knee, and burns on her leg.  She can't remember what happened, and Mark soon arrives, telling everyone he's her boyfriend.  Mina has a sense of uneasiness around him, but without her memory, is hard pressed to understand why.  

As Mina spends weeks in the hospital, she sees a nurse standing near her bed and soon realizes the nurse is not one of the nurses that work on the floor, but rather an apparition.  Who is the nurse, and why is she there?  What is she trying to tell Mina?

Grace struggles to feel at home as a nurse in the hospital, and shares a room with Evie, who is fun, flirty, and full of life.  Friendship is there, if only Grace will reach out.  Meanwhile, she is slowly becoming aware that Dr. Palmer has his eye on her, and he terrifies Grace with his demeanor; catching her alone, saying inappropriate things to her.  She doesn't know what to do, and is afraid history will repeat itself.  

Mina's memory slowly starts to come back, and flashes of memories with Mark and her estranged family have her questioning her life, and how the accident happened.  What connection does Grace and Mina have, and will it save Mina?

I enjoyed this novel very much.  Mina isn't a very nice person, but her time in the hospital begins to change her.  Not remembering who she was gives her an opportunity to become a Mina that is kinder, more thoughtful, and capable of sharing her feelings with others.  Grace is super reserved, and you can't blame her after being shunned by her family, and told over and over that she wasn't a good girl.  When all is said and done, this is a novel about women in dangerous relationships, and how sometimes others need to intercede before something horrible happens.  It's about women looking out for each other, and creating family out of those who care about us the most.  A ghostly nurse, apparitions of birds, and foreshadowing add a touch of magic to an entertaining tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sarah Painter for a chance to read and review this novel.  

Available in paperback, e-book, and audio.

Rating:  7/10

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In the Light of What We See by Sarah Painter

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Brain on Fire is a pretty intense dive into Susannah Cahalan's personal trip to hell and back.  Sometimes it was hard to believe what I was reading was non-fiction and not just a really good medical thriller.  

Susannah was a healthy 24 year old, living in New York City in a tiny apartment, dating a great guy, and working as a journalist at the New York Post.  It was Spring, 2009 when Susannah started to feel a bit odd.  A bad headache, difficulty concentrating at work, and the concern of parents and friends sent her to doctors.  Diagnoses ranging from mono, to "being too stressed to live on her own", to yes, even schizophrenia kept coming.  All blood tests, MRI's, and other tests all kept coming back normal.  And Susannah's health kept deteriorating...

Needless to say, this book is about Susannah's journey into a mysterious illness that had only been discovered in 2007, two years before she somehow fell victim to it. The clock was ticking--would Susannah's doctors find a cure before it was too late?  

This all takes place over a month, and it's pretty intense. In order to write about her experience, Susannah spent time reading her father's journal, going over doctor reports and notes, and piecing together her lost month, when everyone thought she was going mad.  She doesn't remember much of it at all, just a few flashes of moments that continue to haunt her today.  This is a book about parents who did not give up on their child, and insisted on finding the cause of her illness.  It is the story of a woman who fights her way back from literally the brink of death.  It is about the journey after the illness, back to the real Susannah.  Could the real Susannah be found? 

I'm leaving out a lot on this review, because I want you to read this book.  It's a thriller, a medical mystery, and most importantly, a story of overcoming the odds, and simply being lucky and in the right place in the right time.

There are plenty of tv interviews and clips of Susannah on YouTube that you can check out if you'd like to hear her story.  

Available in paperback, audio, and e-book.

Rating:  7/10 for medical thriller that is all the more chilling because it is real.  

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Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan