The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

If you want a book that begins with a terrifying event (home Invasion) and ends in murder and suicide than this is the book for you!  The heroine is Lo Blacklock, a travel journalist who drinks a bit too much and has the worst luck of any person you could imagine.  Just days after being robbed in her apartment she leaves for a cruise which is also a job.  How bad can a cruise on a luxury liner be as an assignment?

Lo knows several of the other guests, was once in a relationship with one of them, and is uncomfortable in her own soul, let alone in the assignment which she thinks will make a difference in her career. A couple of issues arise almost immediately though. First, she is claustrophobic and being confined to a boat with only ten cabins is probably not a great idea. Secondly, the first night after consuming alcohol she steps out on her balcony to clear her head, hears a splash, sees blood on the screen of the next door cabin and believes a passenger is in danger if not dead. Only problem, Cabin ten is unoccupied!

So many things happen to keep the reader guessing about the case or even if there is one. As the book progresses one can begin to figure out the mystery but you are still surprised with the outcome. Friends are enemies, enemies are friends. People who aren’t are and those who are aren’t. Without giving too much away, I like the way the book ends. I think everyone is given proper justice and Lo realizes that she is much more than she though.  She has hope for the future and looks forward to new beginnings.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

I am beginning to enjoy historical fiction more these days thanks to the book club selections we have been reading. Lilac Girls is one such book.  Set during WWII, it is three stories of women who each play a different role during the war but whose paths are destined to coincide. Caroline Ferriday, an American socialite and actress works to find assistance for French refugees, especially children. Kasia Kuzmerick is a young Polish teen who so wants to do something important to help with the war efforts she puts her own life in peril. Herta Oberheuser is a young German doctor who wants to work as a doctor in a predominantly male world that she would end up doing horrible things just to keep a job. While they would not all meet, their lives were definitely interconnected.

Caroline struggles with the proprieties of the late 1930s and early 1940s. She is an older woman for whom maintaining virtue is still a problem and she walks a thin line between spending time with her love, a married French man and doing all she needs to keep the children safe and well accommodated.  I love her spirit and determination. I also love that she goes beyond convention to do what is right.

Kasia is a true survivor. I think her personality keeps her alive after her capture and internment. The surgeries she had to endure are indicative of the experiments we read about carried out during the war. She wanted to do more to help and in the moments before her arrest she saved the life of another. She lived to confront her demons, see her sister choose to stay in America, realize the life she wanted was there with the same young man for whom she took risks in the first place and to continue to question authority whenever necessary.

Herta is the hardest to figure out. I get it that she was protecting her own family by taking the job at the camp but to actually carry out the surgeries and to be responsible for the death of others when you are a doctor sworn to help, not harm is beyond me.  I also don’t see how she was able to go on practicing after the war instead of being tried for war crimes and executed.

The book is well written, keeps one interested and provides reasonable conclusions. Did it all play out as I would have liked? No, but then life rarely does. Well worth the read.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman

Another great book about personal relationships among a disparaging group of people!  Granny is a bit of an oddity and Elsa loves her dearly. I laughed at the antics between the two and the escapades they encountered. What I really liked about this book is how each letter told a story and how we learned about the interconnected nature of the tenants and the house as we did. 

Granny was way ahead of her time. She did everything folks told her she couldn’t but when her granddaughter was born she came back to care for her in a way she had not done for her own daughter, Urlika.  A doctor by profession, Granny would take lost cases in if she could not heal them.  Seemingly complete strangers were very connected. Everyone had a sad tale, a need of rescuing, a fear to overcome and she gave them all a place to do that even though she sometimes made life more difficult for them.

I liked the way her helped Elsa overcome her Granny’s death by giving her a friend in the wurse.  What child doesn’t like a dog.  Elsa was afraid of the dog to begin with. After all, it was living with the Monster. Personally, I think the dog is lucky to have survived all the sweets and mulled wine it consumed! Elsa overcame each fear she had by delivering the letters left by Granny. Each time she got scared she remembered the fairytales she had been told. She was surprised to realize she knew each of the players and they lived with her in the house.

Elsa is a bright little girl. She likes things right! She loves science, super heroes, grammar and the wurse. I found it interesting that she was also bullied at school because she was more mature than her peers. The ways she grows as a person is amazing.  She pays attention to details. She does not hesitate to say what is on her mind. The relationship with her own mother develops as does the relationships to the others.  I think her grandmother was correct to leave the house to her. 

Other characters are equally interesting. Britt-Marie is the next book from this author I will probably read. I never imagined when I started the book that there were families living almost as strangers, deep secrets hidden behind closed doors and each came to light through a precocious child.

Big Little Lies by Liann Moriarity

This book has been made into a HBO series and it is not the same. The book, set in Australia, is great. The series is good too but different.  However, since this a book blog, I will deal only with the book!

Everyone has things in their lives which are not what is immediately evident to the public. We all have problems with those we love, with those in the community or with those in our work places.  Life in what we present to the outside world.  This book is so much about all these things and more.

While this is not the first book by this author, it is one of the best. She is a master of intrigue and suspense. From the early onset one does not realize the depth of secrecy and intrigue that comes with this book. Each couple appears to be normal, the children are loving and normal for their age group and strangers are just that. Little do we know that all things are interrelated! Should have suspected this having read several of her books.

Moving to a new place is always a challenge. How many of us expect to move to the source of our conflict! I must admit that the twists and turns of this book escaped my attention for a bit. Still, I was amazed at its ending.

Abuse, disjunction and secrecy are not new.  The author takes us through what is a normal process where the women work through all that happens to them. Dealing with a teenage daughter, with a divorce and co-parenting, are all issues I can imagine any modern family facing. While many of these events arise in life, hopefully, one does not deal with abuse especially to the point of death. 

I found it interesting that Ziggy was so accepting of all situations despite having the same genetic makeup as the twins. I was also intrigued that the twins were such opposites.

Great book with lots of twists to keep the reader involved.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

I am a Social Science major and I had never heard of these women!  That is disgraceful. Katherine Johnson even grew up in West Virginia, my home state and still I heard and learned nothing of her contributions to the space race. My interest in the seeing the movie led me to read the book first. I know myself well enough that if I see the movie first, I am less likely to read the book.

Whenever I hear Langley, I think CIA, not NASA.  The book is well written. I will admit that much of the technical and math stuff I did not comprehend as fully as someone who is good in those areas might. I enjoyed the book from the personal aspects it includes which allows the reader to get to know these ladies better.  Most women would have given up but not these ladies.  I also found it interesting that they were referred to as computers. John Glenn and others relied on their computations to get them into orbit and back home.  Even after the computers we know today began to appear, the human computers were considered more trustworthy. It was also fascinating that the men working in the field did not trust the women until they proved themselves smarter than they were! 

I can not imagine being told not to go into a field simply because I was a woman, let alone having to do it as a person of color.  Their fortitude in following their dreams is amazing. The family sacrifices are extreme.  The lack of equal pay and access unfortunately was the norm then. I enjoyed reading that these women stood up for themselves in days when that could have made their lives more difficult.

Other things I enjoyed about the book include learning about the community development of the Hampton Roads area.  I wonder what these neighborhoods look like today? My guess is that most are still well kept middle class communities. 

Since reading the book I have seen the movie and also watched the interview between Barbara Harris and Katherine Johnson. At 99, Mrs. Johnson is still sharp as a tack and can calculate math with the best of them.  She cleared up a couple of things about the movie that had been added for theatrical effect such as bathrooms in separate buildings and who made the coffee.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

As life changes one must always remember that life has purpose.  Ove thought his life was over and he had no reason to continue. Enter so many characters who need him! First the cat, then the new neighbors, then folks from the neighborhood. Each new person brings consternation and rebirth to Ove.

Ove wants to die. However, Ove is a meticulous person so everything has to be done just right.  He has routines. He is the self-proclaimed neighborhood watch for the community.  Not a man of many words, he still offers assistance to anyone who needs it, all the while continuing his curmudgeonly ways. He goes to his wife’s grave to visit and talks with her about all the things going on and how awful things are. She “tells” him how to continue living.

Ove is a man who has always done the right thing and helping others is the right thing. I love how he offers to teach Parvaneh to drive, help Patrick fix things, works with Jimmy to get him some exercise, helps Anita and Rune stay together in the house and restores the relationship between Mirsad and his father.  And the cat!  He hates the cat but feeds it because Sonya would want him to do so. He and the cat become inseparable. 

Each new person and each new day brings more and more reasons why Ove needs to live.  Just like for most of us, we need to know that we matter. We need to have someone who needs us. He becomes Granddad to Patrick and Parvaneh’s children.  Children often bring out the best in someone and this is true here. 

I love the community that exists here.  Everyone relies on each other and looks out for each other.  In the end, folks were still doing things their way despite his instructions to the contrary. The fact that so many pay their respects to the old, “bitter” man is a testament to the life he lived and the value he had. A true feel good story!

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

This historic novel tells the story of the conflict and competition between Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison.  It does not make Edison look good! It is based on the actual legal battles between Westinghouse and Edison.  It is from the perspective of Westinghouse’s attorney, Paul Cravath. It has a bit of everything from espionage to attempted murder and one is always guessing who is responsible for each.

Tesla is at the center of all things. His work with electricity and the light bulb are central to the conflict. Edison was the first to patent the light bulb but according to the story actually got the patent prior to completing his light bulb. Tesla could care less about the patent as he was much more interested in creating a better product. Westinghouse wanted the patent for the better light bulb and was willing to go to great lengths to get it. Edison was backed by JP Morgan and benefited greatly for that relationship.

There was a court case over the patent of the light bulb and Westinghouse eventually won the right to produce his own light bulb without having to pay Edison for each one he produced.  Tesla would go on the produce many electrical improvements. Those are facts and the book makes the facts come alive by adding the elements of legal competition to the story.  Cravath has to run back and forth between Pittsburgh and New York to serve his client.  He focuses on his one client while letting other things slide and is taken advantage of in the process. His relationships with colleagues, with his socialite girlfriend and others have many ups and downs giving the reader a reason to continue.

I liked the book and feel it was even more interesting than The Sherlockain we read earlier by Graham Moore.