Mercy Street, by Jennifer Haigh

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book that you connected with to the point that, upon finishing the last page, has you wanting to start back on page one immediately?

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh is one of those books in my recently-read stack that I wanted to restart almost immediately. (More on that in a minute.)

Claudia Birch works in a women's center on Boston's Mercy Street (hence the title). Every morning, despite the cold winter weather, she must work her way through the crowd of protesters to get to the building, where she and her coworkers man the phone lines, dispensing advice to women needing birth control and/or abortions. Divorced, childless, and estranged from her mother, Claudia finds her job rewarding, but stressful, occasionally visiting her local pot dealer to help her make it through the work week.

The book also dives into the lives of Tim (the pot dealer), Anthony (disabled from a work accident, who finds his daily trips to church, smoking weed, and protesting in front of Mercy Street all as ways of finding meaning in his life), and Victor, a scary, misogynistic man who posts signs around the country denouncing abortion, and runs an internet site showing women who he perceives are getting abortions.

How all these lives, as well as the other women on Mercy Street - workers and those in need - intertwine and feed off of each other binds the story together in a thoroughly engrossing way.

Whatever the reader's thoughts on abortion might be, Mercy Street still makes for interesting reading. The very end of the book - what happens to all of the main characters - wraps the book up nicely.

This is definitely a "must read."

View all my reviews

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever stumbled onto a book that you started reading, with no expectations of liking it, then finding out that it's a gem? For me, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is one of those books.

The book's narrator, Jacob Jankowski, is a 90 (or 93) year old man living in a nursing home, getting weekly visits from his children. The chapters dealing with the present - looking forward to a trip to the circus, discovering that his son has forgotten to visit and bring him to the circus, and his "escape" to see the circus - anchor the book as they are interspersed between his memories of his youth.

When studying for his finals to become a vet, he learns his parents have died. He skips out of his finals, and ends up joining a traveling circus, the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After working several jobs with the circus, he is hired on as the show's vet. He makes friends with several of the circus people, and eventually falls in love with Marlena, who is married to an abusive horse trainer with the circus. (Spoiler: Marlena and Jacob do end up together at the end of the book. How? You'll have to read it to find out.)

I really didn't have any expectations when I started the book. But the more I read of Water for Elephants, the more I wanted to read; it was the old "just one more chapter" situation.

The one down side (if it can be called that) is that there are two or three places that could be considered risque. But even then, they only last for a couple of paragraphs, and really don't detract from the story.

The punchline is that if you're looking for an engaging book that will keep you interested from start to finish, Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants is it. When I got to the last page - the last chapter was a bit of a surprise, but realistic - I was tempted to start the book again. Alas, it's a library book, so back it goes. Guess I'll have to buy my own copy!

View all my reviews

Turtle Moon, by Alice Hoffman

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Welcome to Verity, Florida, where the month of May is a dangerous time: long-time residents know better than to make any life-altering decisions during May, as everyone seems to "go a little crazy."

It is where Lucy Rosen and her son Keith have landed after leaving New York in Alice Hoffman's wonderful book, Turtle Moon.

While Lucy has come to Verity to escape an unhappy marriage, 12-year-old Keith is miserable in Florida, and gets into non-stop trouble - stealing, skipping school, and more - with a new friend.

One night, a single mother in the Rosen's apartment complex is murdered and her baby disappears. The "meanest boy" in town finds the baby in the complex's laundry room, realizes that no one is coming for her, and takes off with the baby, becoming her protector.

Julian Cash is the police officer assigned to solving the murder and finding the baby. He, too, was once considered the "meanest boy" in Verity, and can relate to Keith when he (Cash) finds the boy.

What transpires in Turtle Moon is a fast-paced story of complex people trying to find what will give their lives direction, while learning how to trust, as well as growing and letting go.

If you're looking for your next satisfying fast read, Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman is sure to please.

View all my reviews

Talk Before Sleep, by Elizabeth Berg

Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For those of us who love to read, there are a few books that we reread for a variety of reasons. Whether it's to learn more on a subject, reread a well-written book, or simply akin to revisiting an old friend, it's something we usually enjoy.

Talk Before Sleep, by Elizabeth Berg is one of my go-to books when I want something quick, yet satisfying. It was the first of Berg's books that I'd read, and probably my favorite, for several reasons.

Talk Before Sleep is the story of friendship, told from Ann's perspective. Ann and Ruth first meet at a party. Ann was immediately put off by Ruth's good looks; she soon discovers, though, that Ruth has an honesty that is even more breath-taking than her looks. The book follows their friendship, shifting back and forth through past and present. The present describes Ruth's coping with terminal breast cancer, and how the two women, along with a small group of friends cope with Ruth's ongoing health issue.

The book feels as comfortable as the flannel shirts that L.D. - one of Ruth's friends - wears, while showing how distressing the disease is to the group.

A review in Kirkus several years ago states that "Berg...offers a sappy tale about a woman witnessing the death of her friend..." (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...). While the book might be viewed as borderline-sappy, it came across more as telling about how friendships can help us through difficult times.

Talk Before Sleep is well worth reading, especially if looking for a quick, satisfying read.

View all my reviews

AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, by David "Awol" Miller

AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David "Awol" Miller

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever notice how you can go through life without reading a book on a particular subject, then suddenly find yourself reading several books on that subject in a short period of time? I've been doing that with books about the Appalachian Trail; more specifically, books by people who have walked the A.T.

Several years ago, I'd read a short article about someone who'd walked the A.T. and was immediately intrigued. Since then, I've periodically thought, If only... Many of us have dreams of what we'd do if only we didn't have a full-time job, mortgage, etc. That is where books come in; we can live vicariously, whether through a good novel, an interesting memoir, or whatever genre we've chosen for our next read.

I first read AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David "Awol" Miller on my Kindle in 2013, and figured it was time to read the hard copy version of it. As with the kindle version, it did not disappoint.

In 2003, David Miller walked away from a job as a computer programmer to hike the Appalachian Trail. "...I broke the news to my boss. He said, 'If you need to have a midlife crisis, couldn't you just buy a Corvette?'" According to Miller, several thousand people decided to walk the Appalachian Trail (the AT) in 2003; eighty percent didn't make it. The trail's length (2,172 miles) undoubtedly had something to do with that.

Miller left Florida the end of April, 2003 to walk the trail, leaving his wife and three daughters for several months. Throughout the book, the reader learns many things about hiking the AT. First off, there are several kinds of hikers on the trail: thru-hikers, who walk the entire length of the trail at one time; section hikers, who walk a particular section of the AT; and day hikers, who simply walk a day's-worth of trail. Miller spent a good portion of 2003 as a thru-hiker.

Another thing one learns is that most hikers end up with trail nicknames. Miller nearly chose Corvette as his trail name (after his boss's comment), but decided on AWOL. (Apparently, there were other AWOLs at other times on the AT.)

Throughout, the book, AWOL/Miller describes his trip in descriptive detail; the reader gets a sense of travelling with him, experiencing what he experiences...except, maybe, the blisters which threaten to end his hike about half-way through it. Fortunately, a visit to a doctor, followed by a round of antibiotics and several days' rest (known by hikers as zero days, since they put zero miles on the trail). Miller also introduces the reader to other thru-hikers: Superman and Torch, Stretch, Tipperary, Elwood, Doc and Llama, Ken and Marcia, as well as several people in different towns and hostels who interact with thru-hikers.

There are many reasons why AWOL on the Appalachian Trail is the perfect AT book. At the beginning of each new section, Miller has a map showing the section of trail included in the chapter ahead so that the reader has a clear idea the section he's describing. He has also included numerous photos throughout the book, giving us a better look at the area. His descriptions of the trail, his exhaustion, the side trips into different towns, the other hikers, the entire experience, give the reader the distinct feeling of being there with Miller.

This is definitely a must-read, especially for anyone who is curious about the Appalachian Trail, whether one has hiked it, is planning to hike it, or wishes that one would or could hike it.

View all my reviews

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a child, I loved the outdoors. I still love going outside to "commune with nature," as my mom used to say.

Early on, I'd heard about the Appalachian Trail and, after asking my parents about it, thought that walking the A.T. sounded like a great adventure. I thought it would be fun. My parents looked at me askew, hoping I'd forget about such fun.

I never did get around to walking the A.T.; there's a probability that I never will. But that's where reading comes in: one can live vicariously through other people's adventures, whether in fiction or non-fiction.

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery is one of the wonderful books dealing with one's adventures hiking the Appalachian Trail. Emma Gatewood, a 67-year-old mother of eleven, loved to walk. In 1955, after divorcing an abusive husband, she told her grown children she was going for a walk and left home with $200. The walk was along the then 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail, where she encountered not only breath-taking scenery, but two hurricanes, survived a rattlesnake strike and, at one point, spent the night with Harlem gang-members.

Unlike AWOL On The Appalachian Trail, by David Miller and Dennis Blanchard's Three Hundred Zeroes, Grandma Gatewood's Walk was written by someone other than the A.T. thru-hiker. It also moves at a slightly slower pace than the latter two books. Part of the slightly slower pace comes from introducing history and what was going on in the world at large during Emma's first thru-hike. The history part was both Emma's personal history - her marriage to P. C. Gatewood and, years later, her divorce from him, her relationship with her children, and why she decided to hike the A.T. - and history of the A.T. The book also weaves the outside world into Emma's walk, telling of the two hurricanes that, unbeknownst to Emma, were heading up the Eastern United States and would affect part of her hike. Also mentioned after her first hike, which takes up the majority of the book, are her second A.T. thru-hike (she was the first person - man or woman - to walk the trail more than once, going for three trail walks), as well as other walks, and mention of her guest appearance on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life.

While Grandma Gatewood's Walk takes a different look at the Appalachian Trail than either AWOL or Three Hundred Zeros (both reviewed here on June 6, 2013), Ben Montgomery wrote a totally engrossing book about Emma Gatewood and the Appalachian Trail. It should be noted that Montgomery was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. I highly recommend picking up a copy and hiking through it.

View all my reviews

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For years, I had heard glowing reviews about The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini's debut novel. Yet, I'd put off reading it, while it sat on a shelf on one of my many bookcases.

I ended up reading it several years ago, then recently reread it; it's that good.

A stunning book, The Kite Runner pulls the reader into the life and experiences of Afghan immigrant Amir, who leaves his homeland with his father in the late 20th century. The book begins when Amir and his father, Baba, are still in Kabul, where his father is a well-to-do merchant. Amir's best friend, Hassan, is a Hazara boy who lives with his own alleged father on Amir's father's property. Neither boy cares that the two are from different classes, they are still friends.

At one point, Hassan, Amir's kite runner - a person who brings back one's kite during kite-flying contests - is victim to unspeakable violence, which Amir is unable to protect him from.

Years later, after Amir has grown, he goes back to Kabul to try to find redemption by righting wrongs against Hassan. In the end, he brings Hassan's son back to the U.S. with him (Hassan and his wife are dead), in the hopes of adopting his friend's son.

While the book is absolutely stunning, it is not necessarily an easy read. Several parts are fairly difficult, and almost caused me to put the book aside. However, this book is truly a work of art that should be read through to the end. While the story does end with Hassan's son being rendered mute, and Amir and his wife caring for the boy, there is hope that life will slowly get better.

This is one book that definitely needs to be read and reread, as its multi-faceted layers show the reader different ways to view the world.

View all my reviews