2018 Book Review
Happy New Year everyone! 2019 is here and along with it comes my 2018 book review. I’m 2 books short of the number of books I read in 2017 but 7 for the year is nothing to be ashamed of! Please leave me a comment at the end and share which books you most enjoyed last year.
2018 ended with a quiet evening at home, some yummy food and of course a bit of bubbly! Having hosted 14 houseguests for the Christmas holiday I was anxious to get back to my current selection – The Book of Night Women by Marlon James. The review for this intense book about a young slave girl in Jamaica in the 1700’s will have to go on the review for 2019, as I simply could not finish it with a house full of company!
The first book I read last year is called The Wedding Bees by Sarah-Kate Lynch. A gift from Miss T’s dear friend Sarah. Funny how when people know I like bees I am gifted with all sorts of “bee” related stuff! This little book is to be read for the enjoyment of reading. About a beekeeper who when faced with the urge to move, brings her queen out of the hive to crawl over a map and wherever she stops is their next destination. She lands in NYC in an East Village walk-up where she sets up her hive and begins to meet a cast of quirky characters. Do you believe in love at first sight? Sugar Wallace doesn’t either and so the plot begins. Read this if you need an easy read as stated earlier, for pure pleasure.
A Man Called Ove came highly recommended. A novel by Fredrik Backman, charming and heartbreaking at the same time. Ove is the grumpiest old fart you ever met and the diverse people who enter his life, all uninvited, will cause you to look at the grumpy folks you meet in a new light. I must say I’ve never met a character quite like Ove in a book before but in life, most certainly! A New York Times best seller and with good reason.
Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead’s book The Underground Railroad made my heart stop a few times. A riveting tale of one woman’s will to escape bondage in the antebellum era will give cause to ponder. The story is written in third person with a focus on Cora, a slave on a Georgia Plantation. When approached by fellow slave Caesar, to join him in running away Cora is hesitant at first but ultimately goes along with the plan. Tracing their harrowing escape using the underground railroad will make it hard for you to put this book down.
While visiting my daughter in Texas last summer I finished the book that I traveled with and ended up borrowing one from her. She has no shortage of books but recommended People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. It was a bit slow getting into but once I found my footing it was a wonderful book. “The book” is the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated manuscript that contains the illustrated traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder. It is one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs in the world, originating in Barcelona around 1350. Using historical material, Brooks character Hanna Heath, a rare book conservator gets a phone call and thus starts the ball rolling. The Sarajevo Haggadah which disappeared during a siege in 1992 has been found and Hanna is invited to visit the U.N. to report on its condition. Puzzle-solving, romance, parent child drama, People of the Book was inspired by a true story. In the end I’m glad I read it! (apologies, as there is no photo of this book – if you borrow a book it should always be returned to it’s owner)
A fellow yogi suggested I read a book that her book club was reading called We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. At the age of 15 Georgia Hunter discovered that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. After uncovering her family history she tells a story of love, tradition, narrow escapes, starvation, imprisonment, and torture. The characters and circumstances in her story mimic the Holocaust survival of her own family members. A gripping story that will leave you breathless and reading late into the night. Considering the global adversity we face today this story couldn’t be more timely!
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is another book I struggled to finish. This is a non-fiction book about a poor, black tobacco farmer whose cells, taken without her knowledge in 1951 became valuable tools in medicine. Her cells helped develop the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping and more. Her cells have been bought and sold by millions yet Henrietta is virtually unknown to the world. With Skloot’s focus on medicine the reader is also exposed to social wrongs, racism, bioethics, and the effect on a family whose mother was gone too soon. No names have been changed, no characters invented nor events fabricated. This book left me scratching my head, it raises as many questions as it answers.
A novel by Caroline Hulse, the Adults received good reviews and I was eager to read it. I was under the assumption that it was funny. I found it annoying. The “adults” Matt and Claire are divorced but decide it best for their daughter Scarlett to celebrate a normal Christmas together. Since both Matt and Claire have new love interests they determine they should all travel to a resort for the holiday celebration. Scarlett is a spoiled and sour child, while the “adults” all have their own issues, none of which seem to meld for a jolly time. It is an easy read – and you should read it for yourself – you may laugh your ass off – I didn’t. I found the characters completely un-adult like and tiresome in their interactions with each other – not funny. Anyway, you read it and tell me your thoughts!
My favorite book of 2018 is my own – a cookbook I created for my two daughters. It’s purpose to share memories, stories and recipes from our family. It is titled, ” a family’s southern cookbook” recipes from relatives, friends, & church goers saints & sinners alike. The book contains 137 recipes from appetizers to side dishes, one-bowl meals, main courses, desserts, and beverages. Full of photos of relatives, grand and great-grand parents, aunts, uncles, and of course a few of yours truly. It took me a couple of years to complete. I used a website to put it all together and wrote and arranged the book in a way that made sense to me. There are photos and stories, some my girls are familiar with, others are new to them. My hope is that they will carry on the traditions and enjoy the recipes in their lives. Did creating this cookbook get me to thinking? Why, YES it did. Could I in the future develop a cookbook that would be of interest to the public? Only time will tell – but my thinking cap is on!
Don’t forget to leave me your comments below. I like to keep a stack of books at the ready and am always open to suggestions from my readers. Here’s to good health and many good books in the new year!
