The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley

I wish I liked this book more than I did. The concept is amazing, but I found the writing style to be a bit too dry, and pretty much just a prime example of why I have traditionally avoided non-fiction books.

This was our book club selection for our June meeting and it is the only time I can remember when no one in the group had finished the book. Shocking!

Ann Walmsley tells the story of how she joined her friend, Carol Finlay, who held book club meetings in the Collins Bay Prison near Kingston, Ontario. Having personally been the victim of a violent mugging while living in London, England, Ann found it difficult to walk into the prison and get to know the inmates on a personal level. However, she faced her fears and her life changed a result.

The men they encountered in the prison were intelligent, insightful and loved reading. They loved discussing the books given to them each month and looked forward to their meetings as more than just a way to escape prison life for a short time. Some of the men even began a book club at their new minimum security prison when they were reassigned there.

Ann encouraged the men to journal their thoughts about the books they were reading which often turned up even more insightful thoughts which hadn't been discussed in their meetings. They read a great variety of books, and my "To Be Read" list grew as I worked my way through this book.

So, all in all, the concept was exciting and interesting. However, the writing style was incredibly dry and it became too much of an account of what happened, instead of a compelling look inside the book clubs.

If you are interested in reading more about the book clubs meeting in prisons, by all means, pick it up. You will enjoy it, it just won't be the most exciting book you've ever read. You can also check out the website for Book Clubs for Inmates.

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner

I'm back in the thriller/suspense genre with this recommendation from another Mom at Wesley's school (Thanks Tracy, if you're reading this, I'm looking forward to the others too).

This is the 7th in a series of books about a married pair of criminal profilers (Quincy and Rainie), but this is the only one I have read and I don't feel like I was missing anything at all. It can definitely stand alone.

Telly Ray and Sharlah Nash were born into a difficult home. Their parents were addicts, their father was abusive and their mother wasn't strong enough to stop him. Telly takes good care of Sharlah until the night he sees his father attack their mother with a knife. Then, Telly loses control and attacks his parents with a baseball bat, killing them both (this happens in the first chapter, it's not a spoiler!). Following this, the children are separated in foster care and each live very difficult lives trying to overcome the trauma of that night. Telly moves from home to home while Sharlah is in the process of being adopted by Quincy and Rainie, the criminal profilers.

Fast foward 9 years when a violent gunman is on the loose in their small Oregon town. Telly's current foster parents are dead, along with two victims in a nearby gas station. Telly is seen shooting out the camera of the gas station security cameras and is on the run. Quincy and Rainie have to begin searching for their daughter's long lost brother, while trying to keep her safe at the same time. But is the case as cut and dried as it seems?

What follows is an exciting mystery with lots of twists and turns. There are lots of great characters who work together to solve the mystery. Flashbacks are given to help tell the backstory and the past and present are really well woven together.

I've never read anything by this author before but I definitely would again. This would be a great summer read, take it along with you on your vacation!

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Judy Blume is still writing books! I had no idea until this was announced as my book club selection for March/April. She is now 79 years old and seemingly still going strong. This book is geared to adults, unlike the titles we all read as kids (Superfudge, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and so on). I really had no idea what to expect of a Judy Blume book geared to adults, so I was eager to give it a try.

This is the story of the people living in Elizabeth, New Jersey (Blume's hometown) in the winter of 1951-1952. Based on real events, it tells the story of how the town reacted when three planes crashed in their small town over the course of 58 days. Between the questions of why this kept happening, the loss of friends and family, and the fear of when it was going to happen again, the people of the town didn't know how to respond to these tragedies.

While all this is going on Miri Ammerman, Natalie Osner, Mason McKittrick and their friends are just trying to be teenagers living their lives. They fall in and out of love, struggle with eating disorders, and struggle with their parents. Rumours abound, no answers are coming and the residents of Elizabeth struggle to find their normal routines amid the heartbreak and fear surrounding them.

It seems impossible that three planes would crash in the same area in such a short time span, but it did happen. All three crashes were near schools, which made school children at the time question whether there was some sort of conspiracy at work. However, it just seems like three horrible separate tragedies that happened in a short time frame.

The story is told in alternating voices, lots of them, which can make it hard to follow. In the print copy (I read it digitally) there is a list of characters at the beginning which could really help to keep the numerous characters straight. The characters, for the most part, are quite likeable and you can easily identify with them. They face difficult situations and see how that can draw people together, or pull them apart.

It's probably a book I wouldn't have read if it hadn't been chosen by my book club, but I'm glad I read it. Several members of our group couldn't get into it and didn't finish it, so I'd like to know if anyone else read it too and how you felt about it.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

I like books about journeys. I'm not sure exactly why, but when someone sets out on some sort of personal journey, I'm in. I also like quirky books that feature unique characters. So books like The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, and Around the World in 80 Days are some of my favourites. In my experience, a good book about a personal journey usually features some amazing characters. Lillian Boxfish is one such character.

Rob recently discovered this book at Indigo and thought it would be right up my alley. Once again, he was right.

85-year old Lillian Boxfish (but she'll tell you she's only 84) is preparing to ring out 1984 and ring in 1985, she will be doing this, as she usually does, alone. Her plan is to leave her apartment in the Murray Hill district of New York City and walk to her traditional New Year's Eve restaurant, then return home and be in bed long before the ball drops in Times Square. However, she eats a few too many Oreos before heading out and when she arrives at the restaurant she just isn't hungry. So she leaves and keeps on walking. Her destination often changes throughout the night, but the walking remains.

Along the way she encounters many interesting situations and characters. And as she walks she remembers her life to this point, the successes, the failures, and the secrets. We learn that she was at one time the highest paid woman in advertising in the world, working for her beloved W.H. Macy's. She was a woman way ahead of her time, living alone in New York City, fighting to receive the same pay as men doing the same job, and asserting her independence when all the other women around her seemed to want nothing more than to find a husband.

New York City is in her blood and she knows and loves it well. As she walks the streets on this New Year's Eve, you see the city through her eyes, and meet many of its great people.

It is not a book of high excitement, but it is a great story, with great characters. To say it moves a little slowly is an understatement, but I like that kind of a story once in a while. The whole book takes place over the course of one night, with flashbacks from her earlier life mixed in to bring depth to the story.

I found it interesting to read that Lillian Boxfish was loosely based on Margaret Fishback, who was the highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the world in the 1930's. Many liberties are taken with Margaret's story, but some of the facts remain.

This was a big hit for me, and if you like character-driven stories then you'll probably like it too. If you like a lot of action and a quick moving story then this probably isn't the book for you.

The BFG by Roald Dahl

This book came to me, highly recommended by Wesley. A passionate reader, Wes loves his weekly trips to the school library and that is where he had found this book last week. He had recently watched the movie and wanted to read the book to compare the two. He was horrified to hear that I had never read it, and I insisted that I fix that before it had to be returned to the library. So fix it, I did.

Somehow, the only Dahl books I had read to this point were the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books. I loved those, so I'm not sure why I'd never read any of his other works.

The BFG tells the story of Sophie, a young orphan living in England who spies a giant walking through her town one night. He sees her watching him, so to protect himself and all the other giants, he takes her with him to his home. He can't have her telling anyone else about the existence of giants.

As they get to know each other, Sophie discovers that the BFG is the only friendly giant in existence. The others eat humans, and travel to human countries every day to snatch unsuspecting people from their beds. Sophie and the BFG need to come up with a plan to stop those horrible giants. But how can the two of them save the world?

This is a really fun read, and a great story about doing the right thing, even when the odds seem stacked against you. The giant language is a bit annoying to read sometimes, but still fun and in keeping with what you would expect from Dahl.

As an interesting side note, we have read that JK Rowling took words from movies and literature when she was naming characters and places in her Harry Potter books. I found both the words "squib" and "muggle" in this book. I wonder...

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I feel like this is a book that will haunt me for a while. This was our book club selection for February and I loved it.

I have read a LOT of books about World War II and it makes you wonder how many stories are left to be told. But this one took a different approach and taught me some things I had never learned in a history class.

Vianne and Isabelle are French sisters who have led a difficult life. Their mother died when they were quite young, and their father, damaged from his time in WWI isn't able to care for them. They are sent from their life in Paris to live at a family home in the country. Vianne falls in love and marries quite young and Isabelle ends up bouncing around from school to school, a problem student who never seems to be able to find her place in life.

When WWII erupts, Vianne's husband leaves to fight, leaving her at home with their young daughter, Sophie. Isabelle gets kicked out of yet another school so her father sends her to live with Vianne to help during her husband's absence. Isabelle isn't satisfied with this and quickly joins a resistance group, trying to liberate France from Nazi occupation. She develops a plan that will help downed Allied airmen who have landed in France to escape over the Pyrenees to Spain where they can return home to take up the fight once again. She becomes known as the Nightingale and makes nearly 30 of these treks over the mountains to lead men to safety.

In the meantime, Vianne is left in the family home, with German soldiers billeting in her home against her will. Starving, cold, and alone, Vianne is forced to make some difficult decisions to protect her home and her family.

It is a beautiful story of how these women each found their strength in completely different ways. One jumped into dangerous decisions too quickly, the other acted out of a desperate desire to keep her loved ones safe.

I had never heard anything about downed airmen escaping over the mountains to safety. I've seen The Sound of Music, but I have read that the real story is a lot less exciting than portrayed in the movie and that there wasn't actually an escape over the mountains. But these escapes happened, lots of them. You can read a bit more about that here.

It is a beautiful book, full of pain, heartbreak and life-altering decisions. It is beautifully written and I highly recommend it.

The Girls by Emma Cline

Rob gave me this book for Christmas, and before I received it I hadn't heard a thing about it. I had somehow missed it on all the book blogs and sites I regularly follow. It had been recommended by Zoe Whittall, who wrote the other book he gave me for Christmas so he thought it would be a fun pairing. I like reading  books knowing absolutely nothing about the plot, so I didn't look up any information about the book before I started reading it. I thought it was going to be a book about girls understanding who they are and finding their place in the world. I didn't realize that would be happening in the context of the Charles Manson story.

This is the story of Evie Boyd, a 14-year old girl growing up in California in the summer of 1969. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mom, who is trying to rediscover herself as she re-enters the dating world. Evie also fights with her childhood best friend. Without her mom or her best friend, Evie finds herself drawn to a group of girls she sees in the park. She ends up joining these girls (led by the beautiful Suzanne) to a ranch where they all live together. The ranch is led by Russell, the charismatic leader. Evie gets caught up in life on the ranch, slowly leaving her life at home behind her. Throughout the book we also hear from Evie as a grown woman, looking back at her time on the ranch, her fascination with Suzanne and her desire to have been part of that group.

The book uses the story of Charles Manson and fictionalizes it, looking at it through the eyes of Evie. What made these people do what they did? Why didn't Evie join them? What is in her (or in all of us) to keep that from happening? What was missing in Suzanne and the others that caused them to kill innocent people?

The book was deeply disturbing in parts, but still quite fascinating. It was an interesting look into this horrifying story. I probably wouldn't have read it if I had known ahead of time that it was about Charles Manson, but in the end I'm glad I did read it.