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.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
#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.
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.
Friday, April 7, 2017
#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.
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.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
#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.
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.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
#33 Mercury
Mercury
By Margot Livesay
I'm not generally into crime novels or thrillers, and it wasn't obvious that this was in that genre. It certainly didn't start off that way, but slowly, hints are dropped, and slowly I was hooked into finding out what happens.
A couple, married for 10 years with two kids, find themselves increasingly living separate lives. Viv becomes obsessed with a horse, Mercury and her lost dreams of winning equestrian competitions on a great horse. Her obsession leads to an act of violence, thinking she is protecting the horse from danger.
The book is about relationships, and how little things can lead to much bigger problems, in hindsight.
An interesting read, good writing, well written. The plot was so so.
Rating: 3.4/5
Recommendation: OK.
By Margot Livesay
I'm not generally into crime novels or thrillers, and it wasn't obvious that this was in that genre. It certainly didn't start off that way, but slowly, hints are dropped, and slowly I was hooked into finding out what happens.
A couple, married for 10 years with two kids, find themselves increasingly living separate lives. Viv becomes obsessed with a horse, Mercury and her lost dreams of winning equestrian competitions on a great horse. Her obsession leads to an act of violence, thinking she is protecting the horse from danger.
The book is about relationships, and how little things can lead to much bigger problems, in hindsight.
An interesting read, good writing, well written. The plot was so so.
Rating: 3.4/5
Recommendation: OK.
#32 The Train to Warsaw
The Train to Warsaw
By Gwen Edelman
Still on the Warsaw ghetto theme, this delicate novel traces the journey of a Jewish Polish couple who survive the Warsaw ghetto and subsequently live for many years, post-WWII, in London.
The novel is short, and is written in short paragraphs, rather than chapters. The narrative alternates between the two voices of the couple, Jascha and Lilka, describing their train trip to visit Warsaw 40 years after the war, and flashbacks to their memories of living in the ghetto, losing their families, and their escape.
During the few days they spend in current-day Warsaw, deep memories and fears start to surface once again, and they relive the good and the bad of their lives before leaving. They reveal some untold stories to each other, which make them each question their relationship.
Jascha is now a famous novelist, and he wrote a novel about the ghetto. In present day Warsaw he is invited to speak about his writing, as a returning Polish author. Little does the audience know that he will read from his novel about the horrors that the Jews faced behind the wall, while the Poles live a relatively normal life before the city was destroyed by the Germans. At the end of his lecture, only 4 people remain in the audience. The rest have left in shock and disgust.
It is a portrait of a once beautiful city, of people displaced from their homeland by atrocious acts of war, and of an attempt to return to a place that no longer exists.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: If you're into reading about the Warsaw ghetto.
By Gwen Edelman
Still on the Warsaw ghetto theme, this delicate novel traces the journey of a Jewish Polish couple who survive the Warsaw ghetto and subsequently live for many years, post-WWII, in London.
The novel is short, and is written in short paragraphs, rather than chapters. The narrative alternates between the two voices of the couple, Jascha and Lilka, describing their train trip to visit Warsaw 40 years after the war, and flashbacks to their memories of living in the ghetto, losing their families, and their escape.
During the few days they spend in current-day Warsaw, deep memories and fears start to surface once again, and they relive the good and the bad of their lives before leaving. They reveal some untold stories to each other, which make them each question their relationship.
Jascha is now a famous novelist, and he wrote a novel about the ghetto. In present day Warsaw he is invited to speak about his writing, as a returning Polish author. Little does the audience know that he will read from his novel about the horrors that the Jews faced behind the wall, while the Poles live a relatively normal life before the city was destroyed by the Germans. At the end of his lecture, only 4 people remain in the audience. The rest have left in shock and disgust.
It is a portrait of a once beautiful city, of people displaced from their homeland by atrocious acts of war, and of an attempt to return to a place that no longer exists.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: If you're into reading about the Warsaw ghetto.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
#31 The Pianist
The Pianist
By Wladyslaw Szpilman
How did I come to find this book? Well, an old friend married a Polish woman and last summer they went to Poland to visit her family. They went to Warsaw, and the first thought that came to my mind was the Warsaw ghetto and the Jews who were forced to live there during WWII. Of course that got me looking up Warsaw, and I found out that the Germans had totally destroyed the city before they left, as a last act of vengeance, just before surrendering the war. Then I found out that the Poles reconstructed the city from the rubble to look exactly like it had looked before it was destroyed, as a symbol of their history and culture. Then I started looking up books about Warsaw, and I came across, "The Pianist".
A horrifying memoir of a young concert pianist, living in Warsaw, and how he survived the ghetto and the final destruction of the city for six years of German occupation. Near the end, he was caught living in the attic of a burned out building by a German officer. The officer spared the young man's life, and brought him food and a blanket, which enabled him to survive. It turns out that the German had helped several Jews and Poles survive through his acts of "kindness".
Another book about the atrocities suffered by the Polish Jews under German rule. Almost all the Jews of Poland were murdered, including the pianist's immediate family. Sent to the gas ovens, shot at random, sent to labour camps. Unthinkable crimes against an innocent people.
The book was made into a movie, directed by Roman Polanski. The movie is available on iTunes, so I'll watch it.
Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: Only if you're into reading about this subject matter.
By Wladyslaw Szpilman
How did I come to find this book? Well, an old friend married a Polish woman and last summer they went to Poland to visit her family. They went to Warsaw, and the first thought that came to my mind was the Warsaw ghetto and the Jews who were forced to live there during WWII. Of course that got me looking up Warsaw, and I found out that the Germans had totally destroyed the city before they left, as a last act of vengeance, just before surrendering the war. Then I found out that the Poles reconstructed the city from the rubble to look exactly like it had looked before it was destroyed, as a symbol of their history and culture. Then I started looking up books about Warsaw, and I came across, "The Pianist".
A horrifying memoir of a young concert pianist, living in Warsaw, and how he survived the ghetto and the final destruction of the city for six years of German occupation. Near the end, he was caught living in the attic of a burned out building by a German officer. The officer spared the young man's life, and brought him food and a blanket, which enabled him to survive. It turns out that the German had helped several Jews and Poles survive through his acts of "kindness".
Another book about the atrocities suffered by the Polish Jews under German rule. Almost all the Jews of Poland were murdered, including the pianist's immediate family. Sent to the gas ovens, shot at random, sent to labour camps. Unthinkable crimes against an innocent people.
The book was made into a movie, directed by Roman Polanski. The movie is available on iTunes, so I'll watch it.
Rating: 4/5
Recommendation: Only if you're into reading about this subject matter.
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