Books read, reviewed, discussed and enjoyed in the calendar year of 2024.
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| Voted a PAR=2 points |
Our discussion over the HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams (in January 2024) took most of us "completely out of our comfort zone" of reading and relating to plot. Science Fiction is not a genre that our book club selects. This book prevailed and, in the discussion, we began to realize the strength of the plot, character development and delight with the change of settings.
Our eyes were opened as we discovered that one of us deeply enjoyed the story and shared her tales of reading it several decades ago and now reading it again. We understood the theme "searching for the meaning of life" but not necessarily the character's approach to answering the question. It did receive a PAR for its perspective and plot.
To better explain our "golf terminology and voting" think of a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best and you would recommend it to any type of reader or a Hole-In-One, and a 1 being a bogey that you may or may not recommend to others to read.
With that we began our year reading, discussing, and deciding on our one important vote for books.
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| HOLE-IN-ONE |
THE RIDE OF HER LIFE THE TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN, HER HORSE, AND THEIR LAST CHANCE JOURNEY ACROSS AMERICAN by Elizabeth Letts took us on one of the greatest journeys we've ever taken through the power of literature. I cannot imagine how a 200-pound woman could ride across America on horseback from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1954 without a map. Her fortitude and strength of character never let us down. Her journey provides us with a glimpse of her faith in America and the world in 1954 and how we treated a total stranger on horseback with kindness.
She well deserved a HOLE-IN-ONE rating for 5 points.
EAGLE: This is one of the strongest years to have so many excellent books that could have been rated Hole-in-Ones except for a point or one-half a point.
THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride brings together the strength of a community that bonds, no matter the color of skin, the religious background or the amount of money one has. They all share a common core of caring for our brothers and sisters. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned for all of us in the century.
SHELTERWOOD by Lisa Wingate takes us to southeastern Oklahoma during some of the darkest times, when mankind shared no love, no kindness, and cast-off children who learned to survive on their own in the cold darkness of the Washita mountains. This story from the 1900's couldn't be more opposite in the theme than what I like to read. However, a woman and then women begin to take hold of the story and we see how characters, both real and imagined, step up to save the lives of innocent people during the relentless race to own the land that has oil underneath.
No, I do not like reading stories like this, but I recognize the value they carry for us today. I respect the research, plot and character development to make this a compelling story that I could not put down.
It begins with an affluent Manhattan couple who ask people to trust them with their money as Benjamin Rask makes shady deals that keep them affluent during the crash of 29 but plunge their investors into poverty.
The next two points of view make the reader sit back and think. It is not a quick read nor a compelling plot, but it does challenge the reader to solve the question of who is telling the truth of the story.
THE WOMEN by Kristen Hannah vividly portrays the war in Vietnam from a woman, Frankie, who in 1965 joins the Army Nurse Corps and ships out to Vietnam. Her gut crushing front line experience overwhelmed her and added to the chaos and destruction dropping her to her knees. Her sheer determination pulls the reader through the war.
It is the story after the war that struck a cord with me, a high school graduate of 1965, who lost friends and classmates to the war, and who saw our boys come home damaged and foully treated by the people they fought for. The women in Frankie life experience the same rejection in their attempt to reintegrate into society. As in real life it is the friendship that rescue and endure these nurses.
BIRDIE VOTES: these books each held something different for the readers to enjoy and grasp. Sunflowers using Vincent Van Gogh's life as a jumping off point; The Library Book, the story of the LA Library fire in 1986, has taken on new meaning with the destructive fires in southern California this winter. The library barely withstood a disastrous fire that reached 2000 degrees consuming four thousand books and damaging even more. It also brought a community together to save and rebuild a vital institution of their city.
Osman's book and then series of The Thursday Murder Club provided us with a high-spirited discussion on the who dunnit level. We fell in love with these senior citizens, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron, who pushed the envelope on the value of the creative and energetic mind of an aging population and all with a sense of humor and perspective. After three of our book club members confessed to having read another two or three of the titles even before we discussed the first one, I found myself ordering all three remaining titles on my Kindle and reading nothing else till I finished them. These mysteries provided a great escape that made me smile and laugh.
PAR (We set the bar with a par rating.) The Birdie's, Eagles and Hole-in-Ones must be stronger in plot, character development, setting, theme, writing style, point-of-view and/or entertainment level.
THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Adams
THE CLIFF'S EDGE by Charles Todd is a murder mystery to be solved by nurse Bess Crawford. There lies a dark truth behind two once close families as they take sides after a murder is committed.
We had earlier read No Shred of Evidence, an Ian Rutledge Scotland Yard investigator, and liked it enough to select another book in this mystery series. They are most certainly worthy of a good round of pars.
Charles Todd's writing reflects the team of Charles and Caroline Todd, a mother-and-son writing team who have created the Inspector Rutledge and nurse, Bess Crawford series. Who is Charles Todd?
In golf and in reading we all can relate to or enjoy a bogey every now and then. That is why we felt we could still give a bogey book one point. This year we didn't read any books that we didn't think worthy of our time. I, however, made up for the bogey's on the golf course. Hitting more bogeys year after year seems to be a theme in my golf game.
*If you only have time or energy to read one of these books, may I recommend THE RIDE OF HER LIFE. She will not let you down.
