Reviews

Longtime friends, Cole, Bart, and Teddy are partners in a struggling business called True Triangle Construction. When a mysterious and intriguing woman comes into their lives seeking to hire them to build a house for her in a remote Wyoming location, they can't believe their good fortune. The catch is the unrealistic deadline. The trio is reluctant at first until her generous monetary bonus changes their minds. Once the project begins, unexpected challenges and delays cause pressures to escalate until a breaking point is reached causing a tragic turn.

Author Nickolas Butler has a way of writing about realistic, ordinary people facing obstacles in their lives. The book is about friendship and is also a study of how greed can take you down a dark road. A solid story.

If you have read any of the author's other books, you may also enjoy Godspeed; the word's definition is an expression of good wishes to a person starting a journey.

Trent Preszler grew up in a small town on a South Dakota cattle ranch. He left home for good after he went away to college ending up in New York. An estrangement with his father furthered the distance between them. After the death of his father, Trent's inheritance was a well-used toolbox. These inanimate objects still hold the essence of the man and the simplicity of what is necessary to get something done. The tools bring Trent an unexpected avenue to heal, to remember and to accept the lessons he learned from his family. He embarks on an extremely difficult woodworking project in which he has no experience that will take him close to one year to finish. As Trent uses each tool, he recounts memories of ranch life, reliving those days that are both good and bad.

Little and Often is plainly but eloquently written with doses of humor and pathos. It is an honest look at the complicated relationships that exist within families, how sometimes you will never really know them nor their challenges. Read through this book's page to find out the title's significance and to see if you might find yourself reflected there.

You don't need to be a woodworker to appreciate this memoir. Fans of Nick Offerman's Paddle Your Own Canoe might enjoy this book.

Whereabouts by author Jhumpa Lahiri is an introspective novel about a woman who observes the world around her. She appears to be stuck in a rut, she lives alone, goes to work, has a circle of friends but does not seem to be fulfilled. She mulls her life growing up and how different her parents’ life is from the one she leads. Thoughts and observations occur to her on the street, at the train station, in the waiting room. There is an undercurrent of something not quite named but something almost like sorrow, simmering just under the surface. Still, I was drawn into her world and her emotions as she navigates her daily routine in her beautiful unnamed city.

Pick up a copy of Whereabouts if you’re interested in reading a quiet book that feels like an exploration and assessment of how far you’ve come, what you have achieved when you have reached a certain age with each brief chapter revealing a little more. At only 157 pages, it is a quick read.

What is also interesting is that Lahiri wrote this novel in Italian, then translated it into English.

Time travel within a small coffee shop in Tokyo. Strict rules must be followed but you won't have much time. It is a little fanciful but it is not science fiction.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a quiet, unassuming story about people who seek to reach back in time, to have another chance to meet someone important to them; despite that when they do, nothing in the present will change. Each person must decide if the emotional journey is worth it.

This is author Toshikazu Kawaguchi's debut novel. His playwright writing style may be evident as readers learn more about the characters. Some of the writing is a little simplistic but translating the story into English probably plays a factor.

If you like gentle stories about ordinary people who are searching for important truths for themselves, you might like Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
 

Author Arshay Cooper grew up on the West Side of Chicago in a rough neighborhood with seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his way at almost every turn. While attending high school in the 1990's, a benefactor introduces the sport of rowing to his school. It was difficult to recruit a team of students willing to participate. Arshay was one of them. The assembled group of students quickly discovered how much physical effort and team coordination is required to row. They are ridiculed by their classmates and then by other rowing teams. Some didn't even know how to swim. With a combination of grit, dedication and determination their team improved. They get to be part of something together. Arshay became a team leader among his fellow students. You can hear in his voice the beginnings of the motivational speaker and activist he is today. This book is about the power of someone believing in you so that you can believe in yourself so that you can succeed and pay it forward.

Two shy friends, not quite a bromance, navigate the world in an understated and guileless manner. A feel-good story that does not need fireworks or high drama in the telling of it. In this unprecedented pandemic time, this suited me just fine. Leonard and Hungry Paul is author Ronan Hession's debut novel.

"You may wish to note the above."

In a very personal and candid memoir, Rebekah Taussig shares what it is like to navigate the world using a wheelchair. She writes about people being over-solicitous to help, about being ignored, and to still not have access to places she may want or have to visit. She reminds us that the Americans with Disabilities Act was only signed into law in 1990.

A term called "ableism" is discussed throughout the book. In Rebekah's words:  “Ableism is the process of favoring, fetishizing, and building the world around a mostly imagined, idealized body while discriminating against those bodies perceived to move, see, hear, process, operate, look, or need differently from that vision.” 

Sitting Pretty is an eye-opening book to read.

Set in India, Jivan is a young woman trying to work her way out of poverty and the rigid, limited role she has in society. After a terrible attack on a passenger train in her city, she makes a very unfortunate decision to post a critical comment of her government on social media. This action sets in motion a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Will two people who could be character witnesses come through on her behalf? We meet her physical education instructor, PT Sir, who thought Jivan had potential when she was his student and Lovely, a young hijra who Jivan tried to help learn English. As we get to know these characters, we see the struggles they have and the compromises they make.

The way the author narrates the story left me surprised and shocked at the turn it takes. It becomes a tale as old as time told in a unique way . . . naivety, betrayal, graft, poverty, selfishness, looking the other way, power, and justice denied. This is author Megha Majumdar's debut novel and brings an awareness of serious issues. A Burning has left me still thinking about this compelling novel long after I read it.

Funny, irreverent and moving. This is a memoir about a Vietnamese family who barely got out of Saigon in 1975 as told through the eyes of Phuc, the older child in the family. I laughed, I cringed, I sympathized, I looked up words in the dictionary. As Phuc’s family settled into a small Pennsylvania town culture shock for his parents included difficulty in relating to their children now growing up in a country so far removed from Viet Nam. There are some harsh realities that happened as Phuc and his father clash with each other. As Phuc grows older he also has to contend with overt and covert racism around him. Middle school and high school years are challenging to navigate as he tries to find ways to fit in. By high school he has surrounded himself with friends who are supportive allies. This band of brothers also provides avenues for them to get into trouble with some comic retelling. Phuc found a way to fit in but also saw enough in himself to pursue higher education.

 Read Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran if you enjoy reading about another person’s experiences. Fans of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah might also enjoy reading this memoir.

Witch trials. In Norway. In the 1600's. Based on true events but a story imagined on how events can lead up to such atrocity and how a community can turn against one another. Out of the blue, a massive, wicked, perfect storm occurred in 1617 that wiped out 40 fishermen from a small seaside town leaving mostly women left to carry on. Indigenous people and Norwegian women became scapegoats when a newly appointed commissioner arrived to oversee this tiny village. Rumors spread and were believed that the freak storm was conjured up by witchcraft. Author Kiran Millwood Hargrave gives us a glimpse of what life might have been like during this treacherous time, what might have happened within this hamlet of women: resilience, survival, friendship, love, short-lived independence and forced betrayal.

The Mercies has appeal for readers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Madeline Miller's Circe.

Today, on a harsh, windswept promontory in Vardo, Norway, stands an incredible monument dedicated to those who lost their lives.