FictionThe School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (Phyllis)After listening to The Orphan Master’s Son (see Betty’s book below), I needed a gentle read so I tried this book. Lillian owns a fancy restaurant and she teaches a cooking class the first Monday night of each month. The book follows the class of eight students. You really get a sense of the students – a couple, a young man who is struggling to find his place (who got a gift certificate for the class), a middle aged man who has lost his wife, a young mother and a woman married to a chef. Lillian does not use recipes but encourages them to use good ingredients and work them together. I read it in a long afternoon and evening. I appreciated the pace and the characters. I wouldn’t call it a great novel but it made me appreciate cooking and food even though there are no recipes here!

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Lois)Fforde writes the Thursday Next series as well but this was very different. This is a dystopian novel that takes place after a cataclysmic event. There is an inane government with weird rules. It is a Chronostocracy where everyone sees a different shade of color and there is a hierarchy based on what colors you see. For instance, red is next to the bottom. Our protagonist, Eddie Russet is a red seer. He obeys the rules and wants to try and marry up to a higher color. He meets Jane, a grey, who turns his world upside down and he learns that things are not as he thinks they are. Like the Thursday Next series, it is still extremely funny but darker and more science fiction than fantasy. It is definitely a commentary on society.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler (Magan)This is a fictionalized autobiography of Zelda Fitzgerald. It is as heartbreaking as you would expect. It talks about her antagonist relationship with Hemingway and is kind of like rumination on the colossal waste of their lives and the neglect of their child. I would call it serviceable fiction. It moves at a good pace for such a long book. But I would not pick it up if you don’t have interest in the subject. I followed it up with Eleanor and Park (see Teen section) which was romantic and wonderful.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Peter)This book was recommended by a friend and the back cover said it was like an adult Harry Potter so I decided to read it. Quentin is a high school graduate who is going to Princeton but is whisked away to a magic school instead. The first half of the book is vignettes about life at the school and the second half is a journey. He goes on the journey to find happiness some where else. I am not sure I liked Quentin but I did want to see what happened to him. Although I did not see a lot of character growth, I did think that he found happiness and an inner peace but he ends up wiping it all away. There is clearly a sequel.

When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James (Christi)This is the second book in a series where James takes fairy tales and creates love stories around them. The hero could be based on Gregory House from the television show House – he is very cantankerous. The heroine is smart and spunky. It is a fun and steamy romance.

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Betty)This was one of the more fascinating, surreal, absurd, and wonderful novels that I have read this year. It is set in North Korea, a place that we know very little about and are kind of wondering what is the truth from what we’ve heard. The first half of the book does not have plot, it is the day to day existence of Jun Do (John Doe), the North Korean everyman. This book could not be set anywhere else and have the impact that it has. One of the great constants in North Korea is propaganda. The people are expected to believe the propaganda. The second half of the book is a love story that you cannot fully believe because the narrator is a little on the unreliable side. It is one of those books where you have to take a big leap of faith and go where the author takes you. You will not get a lot of guidance but it is a wonderful ride.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (Margita)This book is listed as mystery in my library but it is much more. The main character is a lawyer who gets a call from her daughter’s school, when she gets there she finds out that her daughter committed suicide. As a lawyer, she tries to figure out what happened. Was it a suicide? Themes of loss, bullying, first love and mother/daughter relationships are all explored. It reminded me of Where’d You Go Bernadette because you get the daughter’s point of view from documents she left but also from flashbacks. It draws you in right away and is seamlessly constructed. It would be good for teens or adults.

The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates (Marilyn)This takes place at Princeton in 1905-06 and Oates includes historical figures in the story like Woodrow Wilson who was president of Princeton (who is portrayed as petty). She creates a whole world of academic controversy and back stabbing. The novel beings with a prestigious family’s daughter about to be married to a dashing lieutenant but by the end there is all kinds of supernatural things coming into play which many think has to do with a supposed curse on the family. For example at her wedding she hears a voice calling her which may be the supernatural or may be chalked up to mass hysteria. You don’t know what is true or not. It is very gothic and has an Alice in Wonderland sort of feel to it.

Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara (Alena)I am going to talk about a book from 1933, Appointment in Samarra. John O’Hara wrote more for the New Yorker than anyone. This was one of the first books in The End of Your Life Book Club. Samarra is death. I did not read John O’Hara for many years because he was compared to Hemingway and I hate Hemingway. But after reading about it and then getting a note from the publisher about it coming out in paperback – I figured it was a sign. To me, this was everything Hemingway wished he could be. Even though it is about miserable people, it was funny, clever and smart. I read it in one day. It is like The Great Gatsby meets Mad Men – people who have too much money, too much time, and too much liquor. It has the best description of a hangover I have ever read.

Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley (Elizabeth)A first novel by a former registered nurse, this is psychological fiction with medical details. Matt is a 30-something neurosurgeon married to Elle, his dream girl. They are childhood sweethearts who grew up next door to each other. Elle falls off of a ladder and ends up brain dead. While she is on life support, Matt finds out that she is pregnant. Matt’s mom is Elle’s executor and godmother; she takes her own son to court because they disagree about life support. It has flashbacks to their childhood and also excerpts from Elle’s diary. If you are anything like me, you will cry throughout although it is not ultimately depressing. A great book for book clubs.

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (Mary)I loved this book. It is about Bob and Jim Burgess, two people who grew up in a small town in Maine-think Richard Russo’s hardscrabble towns. They left as soon as they could but their sister stayed. To be successful, you had to go. Both of them become lawyers; one is a glitzy lawyer who dresses well and has a nice family. The other brother ends up divorced and doesn’t get along as well. The family gathers back in Maine because the sister’s only child, who is 19 years old, has got herself into trouble. The book is really about family and the secrets they keep. Every family understands that the things they don’t talk about are not fully understood. You get a close-up look at all the characters. In the end the truth does come out, but people don’t always want to hear the truth or believe the truth.

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson-Walker (Kathy)This book was originally recommended by Karen at a previous Book Lover’s Club and then we read it for the Decidedly Dystopian Book Club. It is a coming-of-age story with lots of young adult appeal. The plot is that the Earth has begun to rotate slower, making days longer – at first by minutes then by hours. I really loved this book because even while the world may be ending and chaos starts to ensue, the main character (as they all do) must continue living her life. So she still experiences all the teen stuff – crushing, dating, and anxiety. Although the writing is very direct, it is also quite lovely with great turns of phrase. Not knowing what will happen to the Earth keeps you in suspense which makes for fast-paced reading.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (Becky)In this lyrical debut novel Wecker combines fantasy and historical fiction in a cleverly told immigrant tale set in 1899 New York City.  The catch is our protagonists are no ordinary immigrants; the Golem is a sentient creature made out of clay from Jewish folklore and the Jinni is a genie from Syrian folklore. Wecker lays out their tales in alternating chapters. Eventually they meet, and together they try to solve the mysteries of their origins and their lives.  This is a captivating and original story that reminded me of a combination of Forever by Pete Hamill (immigrant to NYC plus magic storyline), The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (dark fantasy with amazing world building, fluid storytelling, darkness but with hope)  and People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Jews and Arabs working together to save something precious).

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson (Karen T.)This novel is part of the supernatural, thriller series Repairman Jack. He is like the equalizer – he repairs situations. The series really takes off after the third one where you find out that there is a battle going on between really evil and the apathetic. It’s the bad vs. the not quite good and that’s the best you get. Repairman Jack completely lives off the grid. By the ninth book it is after 9/11 and he is trying to figure out how to live off the grid while still being part of a modern society. He is not opposed to killing someone if he has to but, more likely, he tries to stick it to the guy without getting caught.

Non-FictionFacing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami by Gretel Ehrlich (Gail)This is a heart wrenching and heartwarming story about the tsunami in Japan. The author went to Japan to follow the path up the coast of a philosopher poet. Her plans change when the tsunami hits in March but she still goes in June. She talks about how people are coping, holding up, and how they want to go back home but there is no home anymore. In many ways this was a devastating book. She tells you what no one wants you know about what was going on. But it is very poetically written and gorgeous to read. It shows how people continue to live in terrible circumstances with hardship which also shows just how spoiled we are.

Knives at Dawn by Andrew Friedman (Paul)Knives at Dawn is about the 2009 American team that competed in the Bocuse d’Or which is like the Super Bowl of cooking. It is like cooking as sport. The team is difficult to put together – Thomas Keller of the French Laundry is conflicted about participating until Paul Bocuse asks him and then he agrees and ends up leading the team. They practice after regular hours and raise money. They head to France with all these grand plans, only to find they don’t have access to ingredients they need and their measurements are all wrong. There is lots of angst but they pull through. The author is a sports writer and that is the tone of the book.

Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris (Karen D.)I really like David Sedaris but I have found that as he matures he has found happiness and that happiness has made his writing bad. I am so happy he has found a partner and has a middle aged life, but it’s kind of boring to read. There was one essay with multiple pages about a colonoscopy which was not funny and had no point. I heard him talking about a part of the book on the radio and it was funny, but in the book it was dry. He also wrote six very short stories from other people’s perspectives which were interspersed throughout and not connected to the book. I didn’t even know when he switched from personal essay to one of the fiction pieces until the character says “my wife.” It was distracting. I like his other fiction. I felt like this was a paycheck book.

Teen

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (Anne)This young adult fiction title is so sweet and you really care about the characters. It is set in Omaha and details the relationship of Eleanor and Park as it matures and gains depth. The point of view keeps changing so you can see each of their sides. Both of them feel so different from everyone else; Eleanor has a particularly hard life but finds it hard to share with Park at first. They begin their friendship when Eleanor starts reading comics over Park’s shoulder on the bus because they are so shy. Definitely a feel good book.