The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

It is going to take a lot to knock this book out of my #1 book of 2016 spot. I have been in a reading slump for a while and I haven't found a book that really grabbed me. This book was what I was waiting to find.

This is our final book club selection for the spring and I hadn't heard of it before it was chosen as our final book. The title made me curious (see what I did there???) so I immediately bought it to read on my iPad.

One of my favourite books of recent years was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and I found this to be equally charming.

Arthur Pepper has been a widower for one year. His life has been sad and lonely over the past year and he has relied on his routines at home to keep life "normal". A year after his beloved Miriam's death he decides to clean out her closets. While doing this he comes across a charm bracelet he has never seen before. He doesn't remember ever seeing her wear it. But as he tries to discover where the bracelet came from he learns a lot more about Miriam than he was prepared for.

He begins a journey that takes him far out of his comfort zone, travelling to London and Paris, getting attacked by a tiger, and discovering things about his wife, kids and himself along the way.

It is a beautiful look at how the choices we make each day make up our lives and about how we don't know what kind of impact we are having on the people we cross paths with in our lives.

It is an absolutely delightful book. One of the women in my book club even shared that this book inspired her to reconnect with her dad! Amazing. It will make you think about your life and about the choices you make. It also made me increasingly grateful for the people in my life. I am challenged after reading it to enjoy the moment more, instead of waiting for better times to come. I hope you love it as much as I did.

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

After neglecting to read my book club's selection for March, I needed to get back at it for April. The busyness of the end of my school semester really didn't leave me a lot of time for reading, so I needed something light and fun to get me reading again. This seemed to do the trick, and I got through it in a few days.

If you like Downton Abbey this could be a good book for you. This is the story of Cora Cash, the richest young woman in America in the 1890's. Her mother wants Cora to make a great "match" and arranges a trip to England for Cora to meet eligible bachelors with titles. Cora quickly finds herself married to Duke Ivo Maltravers, with her own new title of Duchess of Wareham. She is thrown into her new role with very little preparation, very little knowledge of her new husband and very little understanding of her new culture. Cora finds herself always on the outside, wondering if what she is doing is the right thing. It usually isn't.

At the same time, her lady's maid, Bertha, a black woman, is trying to find her way as well. She also often finds herself on the outside because of her role as a servant as well as for her skin colour.

This was a light, quick, fun read. It's not going to win awards, but it's an enjoyable read. None of the characters are especially loveable, but you do find yourself cheering for Cora even while finding her to be a spoiled brat. Fans of Downton Abbey will see some parallels (rich American woman marrying a Brit and using her wealth to save his estate, the upstairs/downstairs element, character names like Cora and Sybil) and will probably enjoy it.

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

When the first Harry Potter book was published in 1997, I read it, just like countless others did. For some reason, it just didn't grab me. I've never been a huge fantasy reader and this fell into that category for me. I simply wasn't interested enough to read any more of them. And I thought it would stay that way (like my feelings on The Lord of the Rings). Then I had kids. Kids who love reading together as a family. We have read some great series together already like The Chronicles of Narnia and This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall but were wondering what our next series would be. Darcy suggested Harry Potter because we had received the first three books in a box of books some friends had given us. So we decided to give it a try, with me expecting to be bored the whole time.

There is something about seeing a book through the eyes of your children that changes things. We were all hooked, right from day one. It has taken us a little more than a year to get through the whole series but we have loved every minute of it (well there were a few character deaths we disliked, but you know what I mean). We have a very strict "no reading ahead" policy. None of us is allowed to read anything without the other two present. We all read or no one reads. There were times when we all struggled with this (I sometimes found Wesley just reading the chapter titles trying to find out what was going to come next) but we kept to it.

Earlier this week we turned the last page of the last book and it was a sad moment for all of us. Our time in the world of Harry Potter has been "magical" for us and we were all very sad to see it come to an end. So sad, in fact that we will be stretching it out a little more by reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them next.

There's not much I can say about the books that hasn't already been said. J.K. Rowling has created an incredible world, amazing characters and exciting storylines. We laughed, we cried, we were scared, but we loved it all.

I will always look back on this time we've spent reading this series as one of my favourite times in my kids' childhoods. The hours we spent, under the covers of my bed, snuggled up and immersed in this magical world were some of the best hours I've ever spent.

Now we want to save our pennies for a trip to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Florida.

I'm so glad I waited to read this series until I read it with my kids. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. But they're still on their own for The Lord of the Rings.

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

I'll be honest, I really didn't want to read this book. I was in the mood for something uplifting so the idea of reading a book about child trafficking did not appeal to me in the slightest. But that is the thing about book club books, you read things you would otherwise not have read.

And I am so, so glad I did. I absolutely loved this book. I can't say enough about it. It is uplifting, challenging, beautiful, heart-warming, and so much more.

This is a non-fiction book, the story of Conor Grennan's time in Nepal. His first visit is to volunteer for a short time at an orphanage before beginning a year-long trip around the world. He has no experience with children, he can't speak the local language and has no idea what to expect with the difficult political situation happening in the country at the time of his visit.

While there the children win him over almost instantly. And during the course of his visit he learned the heartbreaking truth about them. These children were not orphans at all. Their families (from a very remote and extremely poor region of Nepal) had been tricked into paying a man to take their children into Kathmandu where he promised them a home and an education. These families had no money, but sold everything they had to try to give their children a better life. What they had no way of knowing is that the man abandoned them in Kathmandu. Finding this out changed Conor's life forever. He returned to Nepal at the end of his trip around the world and knew that he needed to do more.

While back in the US, Conor laid the groundwork for Next Generation Nepal, an organization that would provide homes for these abandoned children and would work towards reuniting the families. He then travels back to Nepal to begin that work. It is an incredible story that moved me to tears more than once (granted, that's not hard). I highly recommend this book, and I also recommend visiting Next Generation's website to find out more about their important work.

The Only Thing to Fear by Caroline Tung Richmond

What if Hitler had won WWII? What would our world look like? That is what this book sets out to answer

This is a young adult book, which was highly recommended to me by Darcy. She read it in grade 5 and then bought it when given the opportunity at a used book sale at school. She was fascinated by the book and kept on insisting that I read it too. I finally picked it up this past weekend.

Germany and Japan have divided the former United States between them, with Italy taking the west coast and Germany ruling the east coast. So 16-year old Zara St. James is growing up in the Eastern American Territories. She is an orphan (abandoned by her Japanese father and her mother died in a rebel-led raid against the Nazis) being raised by her Uncle in the Shenandoah region of the former United States. She is forced to work cleaning a school for German students where she meets Bastian, the son of the local Nazi Colonel. Rebel forces are assembling throughout the former United States, determined to overthrow the Nazi regime. That is how Zara's mother died and it makes her Uncle extra protective of her.

As you can imagine, the world created by the Nazis is not a pleasant one. Zara is determined to join the rebels and fight for her freedom. Her uncle is hesitant to allow this, but Zara has special skills that could be vital to the success of the rebel's mission. And what are Bastian's true feelings? Can he be trusted?

This was a fun little book and an interesting concept. How would life be different if WWII hadn't ended the way it did? It is definitely far-fetched (humans with super powers have been developed) but still interesting. It's a great way for a younger audience to think a bit about the freedoms they enjoy and what was necessary to make those possible.

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Our book club took a funny turn this month and I'm so grateful! While dealing with fairly serious subject matter, Sophie Kinsella has come up with a funny, engaging novel full of great characters. I wouldn't have expected a book about a teen dealing with mental health issues to be so funny, but it really is.

Audrey is a teenager in England who experienced some serious trauma at her school. That is not fully explained, but it seems to have been some serious bullying from a group of girls who are jealous of her academic and sports success. As a result of this bullying she suffers from anxiety and panic attacks and likely some PTSD (her medical diagnosis is also never fully explained except to say that she is not bipolar). She needs to leave school and spend some time at home getting healthy before moving to a new school.

At home she is surrounded by her parents and her brothers Frank and Felix. Teenaged Frank is, according to their Mum, a video game addict and Mum is determined to get him off the computer and into the outdoors. Felix is only four and adds a lot of humour to the different situations. Frank's friend Linus is also a frequent visitor to their house and becomes very special to Audrey and a big part of her healing.

It doesn't seem like a book about extreme bullying and the subsequent anxiety should be funny but these characters just seem so real. The Mum is absolutely hysterical in her determination to end Frank's video game addiction. Audrey's counsellor gives her the task of making a movie as part of her therapy and the scenes she captures of her family around the house are so funny. I once found myself laughing out loud in a medical waiting room while reading this book.

I do find that Audrey's healing is a little too tidy and easy. I've never dealt with anxiety myself but from what I understand from others who have, it's not that easy. But I do understand that's what fits with the tone of the book. It does seem to give a fairly accurate picture of what happens in an anxiety attack and how someone living with them has to adapt their life as a result of them.

It is a very quick, easy read and highly enjoyable.

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

This was our book club's selection for our January meeting (we met on January 17th) and I finished the book today (February 5th). I think that's my worst ever finish for a book club book, unless you count the one I didn't read at all. We had a lot going on in January and I wasn't always in the mood to read a book about the ending days of World War II, so I didn't always want to pick it up at the end of the day. When you're only reading a few pages at a time, 426 pages can last a long time!

The last 100 pages, although brutal in their depiction of the end of the war, were completely compelling and I have been reading a lot over the last two days to get to the end, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

This isn't the story of one person in particular, but many people living in Italy in the early to mid-1940's. It is mainly the story of Jewish Italians (and also some others from nearby countries who had fled to Italy) trying to survive the German attacks of WWII and the Catholic Italians trying to keep them safe. Because there are many characters and interweaving storylines it can be hard to keep everyone straight. Especially when characters are changing their names to protect themselves! I really appreciated the character list included in the beginning of the book to help keep everyone straight. If you choose to read this book, I would recommend a print edition rather than an electronic one, so you can easily refer back to this list and some maps printed in the front of the book.

It is a story of faith, hope, perseverance in the worst possible circumstances, family, and bravery of many different kinds. Characters will grow and stretch themselves in ways that didn't seem possible at the beginning of the book. People who would likely have never had anything to do with each in peace time will risk their lives to save each other. It's really unlike anything else I've ever read and an incredibly powerful portrayal of the final days of the war.

When I had the privilege of visiting a Canadian War Cemetary in Holland one thing that struck me was the number of soldiers who died in the final days of the war, or even after the war was over. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of some of those final battles and the desperation that led to many of those deaths, and the deaths of many civilians as well.

It's been a while since I cried while reading a book, but the last few chapters brought me to tears a few times (a scene of Last Rites being given in a torture chamber wiped me out). Some shocking things happen and are written in a way that completely caught me off guard. The ending of one chapter even made me think of the ending of The Sopranos. Very powerful, captivating writing that told the story beautifully.

I rated this book a 5 on Goodreads. I rarely do that. I would like to read it again one day to get a better understanding of many of the little storylines. But not for a while. I feel like this book will haunt me for a long time. I'm glad our next selection is much lighter. My brain needs a bit of a break!