I am not sure what all the hype is about with Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. If you ask me, it’s people trying to seem like they are superbly intellectual by saying this was a pleasurable read. For me, it was one of the strangest and least satisfying books I have read. While it went quickly because there was not much to each page, since it all took place in one night, not much happened. The basic gist is a graveyard where Lincoln mourns his son, Willie. Chapters are either ghosts making observations or historical tidbits surrounding the Lincolns and Willie’s illness and death. I could absolutely have given this one a miss, though I am OK with discovering that it wasn’t worth the hype.

I loved Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and, though it had a slow start, I liked a piece of the world as well. It’s the fictionalized account of Andrew Wyeth’s Christina of the painting, Christina’s World. Christina lives in rural Maine with an unnamed crippling disability, is disappointed that she can’t continue in school as a teenager because she has to work on the farm to help her family, and is unlucky in love. All these factors explain why Andy paints her the way he does in the painting. I liked how Kline weaves Wyeth and Christina’s lives together and wondered throughout the book what was fact and what fiction. This is a relatively quick read and an enjoyable one.

After a non-starter (People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks – I just couldn’t get into it), I chose a fluffy read, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, by Liane Moriarty to get through quickly at this hectic time of year. I enjoyed The Husband’s Secret and Big Little Lies (and I am liking the mini-series on HBO too). The Hypnotist’s Love Story is about Ellen, a hypnotherapist, who begins dating Patrick after several failed relationships. Patrick is pretty much perfect and they hit it off right away, but his ex-girlfriend is stalking him. Ellen thinks this is intriguing at first, but it becomes a big problem. This is not a deep story, but it was an enjoyable read and one that I had trouble putting down.

**FULL DISCLOSURE: I am trying something new. I have joined the Amazon Associates program. This means that if you click on the book link in the text of any of my posts moving forward, you will be taken to the Amazon page for that Kindle book. If you choose to purchase it, I will receive a tiny portion of the proceeds. Win-win for the blog and thanks in advance!

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, by Bryn Greenwood, was, on the surface, a disturbing story about a young girl and the man who basically raises her because her parents are abusive meth addicts. However, it was much more than that, and, a completely addictive read that I plowed through in a day. It was intensely readable and fascinating. All the hype about this one was deserved. I’d grab it if you are looking for something page-turning.

Small Admissions, by Amy Poeppel, was a light and funny read which was perfect for this hectic admissions time of year. It is a comical look at NYC private school admission wrapped around the story of Kate who has been in a funk since her boyfriend unexpectedly dumped her the year before. The book explores Kate and the people who surround her before and after her first year working in an admission office. I liked the whole story, but, frankly, would have enjoyed learning more about the families from the admission files perspective (each part of the file is teased out throughout the story). The family element was particularly amusing – I am sure more so because of the work I do. While Small Admissions was nothing deep or earth-shattering, it was a fun read.

The Second Mrs. Hockaday, by Susan Rivers, is a Civil War era mystery told in letters and diary entries. It is a very short book and a quick and pleasant read. I was a little confused at first by the timing of everything and was glad that I had the physical book, instead of reading it on my Kindle, so I could easily flip back and forth. Basically, Placidia marries a man far older than she two days before he heads out to fight in the Civil War. About a year after he leaves, she has a baby who dies and is found buried in their yard. How all of this transpires, you have to read to find out! It’s worth picking up.

This is Not Over, by Holly Brown, was another review copy that I picked up this summer from my favorite bookstore in the Outer Banks. I liked the idea of it – a woman is accused of staining a sheet in a rental and denied her security deposit, but she claims she did nothing wrong, internet war ensues – but the execution wasn’t very good. In fact, I wish I hadn’t spent the weekend reading it. Ah well. Onto something better, I hope.

I should have read and posted about The Weight of Him by  Ethel Rohan long ago – it was a review copy that I was selected to read by St. Martin’s Press. It fell to the bottom of my stack and I only realized this week that the book was being published on Tuesday. So, here’s my belated review. Billy Brennan loves food. So much so, that he weighs more than 400 pounds. After his oldest son commits suicide, he goes on a campaign to be sponsored to lose weight, the proceeds going to preventing suicide. This book, while hopeful in some ways, is very sad and depressing in others. It reminded me of  Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone, and Big Brother, by Lionel Shriver, which I started and didn’t finish. So, in reading, I kept feeling like I had read the story before. This feeling of Deja Vu, coupled with the overwhelming feeling of depression, made The Weight of Him not my favorite. However, in wanting to see what happened to Billy, I did finish and overall, it was an interesting story with a hopeful ending.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles was a quick read, but only meh. The premise was interesting: Captain Kidd travels through Texas, giving newspaper readings to people who are hungry for the news. Along the way, he is given $50 to transport a young orphan (taken by Kiowa raiders who killed her parents and sister and raised her as their own) back to her family. The book is the story of that transport. For those who like quiet, historical, well-told tales, this would be a hit. For me, it didn’t hit the mark.

I chose The Dry for my neighborhood book club after reading numerous compelling reviews (including one from Reese Witherspoon, who I love and whose Instagram feed is AMAZING!). I was excited to get started and it didn’t disappoint. The story centers around Federal Agent, Aaron Falk, who comes back to his hometown after 20 years to attend the funeral of his good friend, Luke, who, along with his wife and son, was brutally murdered. Aaron lends a hand in the investigation while dealing with his own challenging past, for which he was run out of town years earlier (suspected of murdering his good friend, Ellie). This was a fast-paced dual mystery whose ending wasn’t too predictable until close to the end. I stayed up late to finish and really did enjoy it.