cosmicbookworm's reviews
309 reviews

This is an important read. 

What a great study of family, relationships, human nature, dealing with depression, forgiveness among other things! Fun for those with experience living in Chicago, librarians and basketball.

The River We Remember takes us back to 1958 Minnesota and a bit of Iowa. Small-town Minnesota. There are people who are racist, hateful, unfaithful, and dishonest. There are typical rural Minnesotans, Native Americans, and a couple who are here because of various circumstances of WWII. There are veterans, people with histories that they want to forget, people who forgive naturally, and people who are unable to forgive. There are people that I want to grow up and be just like them and there are people that I hope I never have to deal with. And there are people who choose to live their lives without reigning in their natural appetites, with no concern about whose life they might destroy.

This is my first Kent Krueger novel, and I will be putting his others on my TBR list. Krueger knows how to develop his characters and bring them to life, in such a way that we eventually want to give some of them a hug and shake our fists at others.

You might call this historical fiction. It has an element of mystery and an element of romance. Life struggles addressed include racism, war trauma, sexual assault, and rape and alcoholism.

The Invisible Hour is a time travel fantasy that features the power of books, the power of a mother's love and he beauty of a found family. Book lovers, especially those that enjoy authors of the Concord area, and lovers of libraries will likely be intrigued by this story. The story is told in 252 pages and I think that maybe a few more pages could have been used to better develop some of the characters. Overall I did really enjoy this story.

I enjoyed this book because I love books and the history that surrounds books and libraries. At times I struggled to stick with it. I stuck with it because I do love local history and the history of books and libraries.

I was compelled to read this because we watched "Unorthodox" on Netflix last week. This autobiography is the source book for that mini-series. In college, one of my roommates and I babysat a bit, in 1978-79, for a little boy who's folks were part of the Chicago Orthodox Jewish community, and who's Mom was (and apparently still is) a teacher at a Jewish school in Skokie. Very sweet people but clearly living a different lifestyle than I had grown up with. That connection, while distant an outdated, also compelled me to read the book. There are a couple of reasons why I am hesitant to rate the book. One is that I never am fond of rating someone's autobiography. It is their story. The other is that there have been people that have worked to discredit this work, and I don't yet now what I think about that. Just doing a Google search of 'Chicago Mikvah' reveals that I may have once known someone that had to put up with part of the details of this story. And if that is the case it makes me very sad for her. This definitely fits into a "read until you understand" program, but it opens up way more questions than it answers.

I'm not a huge fan of this story. A middle-aged woman recounts the story of an affair with a yet-to-be movie star while doing summer theater in Michigan, many many years ago. For the story to ring true she had to have been reminiscing about this affair throughout her marriage and the raising of her children. I know others see it differently because my 3-star rating is lower than most, but I'm just not impressed with Lara and want her to just let it go. The Traverse City connection and the fact that this is a book club selection kept me going but it would have landed in the "did not finish" pile if it weren't for that.

This is a great listen. It was interesting, and I was compelled, to learn about the history of the AR-15 and how it has become so prevalent in American society. I ended up purchasing the ebook to be able to have it as a reference. There is a lot of history here and I learned a lot.

The first part of the book is about the creation of the AR-15 by Eugene Stoner. Some of this section lags - it perhaps could have been presented in a more concise way, although I am not sure what could have been left out. It is good background information to be aware of. The second part of the book details the usage of AR-15 by civilians and the laws that have either been made or failed to be made to restrict its use.The facts are presented in a way that gives us the facts but doesn’t preach at us what we should think about it. This approach makes the book powerful.

I feel much more informed after consuming this information, and feel it is important to have an understanding of this history. I will be coming back again and again as I have an opportunity to engage in conversation about this important issue.

"Every Time We Say Goodbye" - A Novel | By Natalie Jenner
4.5 Stars out of 5

My only reason for not giving a complete 5-star score is this: Every Time We Say Goodbye is presented as a stand-alone novel but I find myself wishing that I had read the previous books in the trilogy. I feel that having read the previous books would have enhanced my experience.

I enjoyed the glimpse of WW2 and post-war Italy. A focus on Italy during the war and after was my reason for interest in this book. My father spent time in Italy during the war but I didn't learn much about it while he was living. I am always on the lookout for ways to gain insight into the footsteps my father walked during the war.

There are two timelines to keep track of, and several characters. 1943 during WW2 with the escapades of La Scolaretta, a female Italian resistance fighter, and 1945/1946 in Italy where the main protagonist becomes embroiled in controversy while making a movie that included the La Scolaretta story.

The story revolves mostly around Vivienne, a British writer who has lost her fiancé, David, who she believed was killed in WW2, and their child having given him up for adoption to save him the shame of being born to an unmarried mother.

We are taken into a world of Italian movies in the 1950's, the people that star in them, the Catholic Church that censors them, and the world that people actually live in. The world that is allowed in the movies is whitewashed ... different than real life, with the studios controlled by the church and state.

The story is fast moving and Vivienne quickly finds herself in a relationship with John Lassiter, the father of a war orphan and the husband of a famous Italian movie star. As the story unfolds we learn that things are not always as they seem and that leaders of the church that work so hard to control the morality of the masses don't always live by the morals that they impose on others.

One of the reasons I love historical fiction is the bunny trails its sends me on, researching things that I have not heard of before. Every Time We Say Goodbye gave me several bunny trails to follow. This is a well-researched and inspirational work. The author works in lots of heartwarming and inspirational thoughts that leave me with much to ponder.

I received a complimentary e-book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Natalie Jenner, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this opportunity.