#42 Strawberry Fields

Strawberry Fields
By Marina Lewycka

Another book by the same author as the previous book.

This book follows the adventures and misadventures of a group of immigrant labourers, originally hired to pick strawberries in the U.K.

Written as a comic adventure, the humour is dark, as the novel is about legal and mostly illegal immigrant labourers who risk everything to come to work in the U.K. Everything from farm labour to working on chicken factory farms, to restaurant workers and women who end up in the sex trade. Unscrupulous agents find desperate people at ferries and train stations, or they have made arrangements with innocent people leaving their home countries, and they profit from treating people as virtual slaves, paying them virtually nothing.

Many people come from Eastern European countries, and once again this novel features many Ukrainians, though many others from other Eastern European countries, as well as Africa and China.

A funny and tragic adventure, through various jobs, the labour underworld, and along the way the two main characters face death, and eventually find love.

Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: An interesting read, on many levels.

#41 A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian
By Marina Lewycka

A widowed Ukranina man, a long-time resident of the U.K. finds a new wife, 50 years his junior. His two daughters are appalled, first because of the age of the new wife, and secondly because of course she has motives for the marriage other than love.

A series of adventures, misadventures, and timely interventions free the widow from the unscrupulous gold-digger (though there really is no gold, other than the widower's pension and a bit of savings), led by the two quarrelling daughters.

The story is also about the many Eastern European migrants living in the U.K., and their nostalgia for their various home countries. Who knew there were so many immigrants in the U.K.? Who has ever heard of the various countries, or their history?

Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: A cute story, kind of a tragic-comedy.

#40 Eligible

Eligible
By Curtis Sittenfeld

This novel is chic lit, and a light frothy read that is easy if you can stand this kind of book.
I like the fact that it had short sections and good pacing that made me want to just keep reading. Kind of like eating a bag of chips: you never want to stop.

The novel is a modern day rewrite of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". It features reality T.V. stars, an inter-racial romance, and a transgender marriage. There are high society folk who have fallen on hard times, and rich folks who are still rich; surgeons and magazine reporters, yoga instructors and fitness club owners. Truly a modern day tale of intrigue and romance.

Of course, if you've read Pride and Prejudice, you know it all works out in the end and everyone is happily married (or not), and all problems are resolved and solved.

Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: If you like chic lit, you'll like this one.

#39 The Blue Between Sky and Water

The Blue Between Sky and Water
 By Susan Abulhawa

This novel is the story of Nur, an American Palestinian woman who finds her way back to Gaza as an adult.

The book starts in the past, in the Palestinian village of her ancestors before the state of Israel was created after WWII. The story tells of the destruction of their village and way of life and their subsequent life in the refugee camps in Gaza. Nur's parents end up leaving Gaza, eventually ending up in the U.S. Nur's childhood is strongly influenced by her Palestinian grandfather, but after he dies she ends up for a while with her uncaring mother, and then in several foster homes. Finally, she goes back to Palestine as a psychologist, to help trauma victims.

By fate, she ends up reunited with her real family and she starts to heal her own trauma from her childhood loss and abuse.

Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: A good introduction to the horrors of life as a Palestinian in the reign of Israel.

#38 The Far Side of the Sun

The Far Side of the Sun
By Kate Furnival

This book ended up being both a mystery and a romance, not the kind of thing I usually read. But desperation will keep me reading, and this was the best I could come up with in the moment.

The novel is a fictionalized account of the famous murder case of Sir Harry Oakes, resident of the Bahamas, who was murdered in 1945.

The author creates two characters who investigate the murder, along with several real characters.

Not a great read, but an interesting look at colonial life in the Bahamas during WWII.

Rating: 2/5
Recommendation: Sure.

#37 The Horse Whisperer

The Horse Whisperer
By Nicholas Evans

I'm sure I saw this movie back in the 90s, though I watched the previews and couldn't really remember.

This was a very readable novel. Solid writing, good pacing, good story.

The novel tells of a young girl who has a terrible accident while out riding her horse with a friend. Her horse is seriously injured and the girl loses part of her leg.

In an effort to heal her daughter and the horse, her mother takes them to a horse whisperer. He works with the horse and heals it, and he also falls in love with the mother and she with him.

A shocking ending.

Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: Yes.

#36 The Mothers

The Mothers
By Brit Bennet

An OK read. About a young black woman and the hardships she faces growing up in L.A.
She falls for a boy and she gets pregnant. She decides to have an abortion, and then she leaves to go to college. Her best friend ends up marrying the boy. Years later, she comes back home, having finished university, gone to graduate school, and traveled the world. Her father is sick and she comes to help him as her mother had died many years ago. She realizes she still has feelings for the boy and they have a short affair.

Interesting writing and an interesting look at the lives of young black people in the U.S., and of course the lives and decisions of various "mothers".

Rating: 2.5/5
Recommendation: Not really.

#35 The LIttle Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop
By Nina George

A nice little book by a European author.

A fiftyish man's life revolves around his barge bookshop, moored on the banks of the Seine in Paris, and the lover he lost 20 years before. Since then, he has been an emotional hermit, afraid to love anyone else, and afraid to move on with his life.

A series of events leads him to unmoor his book barge to motor along the waterways of France. Along the way, he picks up some passengers, each searching for love and inspiration. He ends up in the town where his former lover, who died long ago, used to live. He connects with her family and finally finds release from the past they shared. He finds love again and a new life.

Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: A cute and easy read. A bit fluffy but not too much.

#34 Irena's Children

Irena's Children
By Tilar J. Mazzeo

Non-fiction. Another book about the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.

This book is about a Polish woman, Irena Sendler, who helped to save almost 2,500 Jewish children from death by the Nazis. Though I skipped over a lot of the details, the book is a graphic description of the horrors of the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews in Warsaw, the horrible conditions in the ghetto, and the Polish resistance fighters who set up underground networks of safe houses to save Jewish children.

Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: If the subject interests you.