Books, Books, Books

It's been a while since I've written about books so have decided to use this post to practice my cut and paste skills.  A Toshiba tech is going to call me back this afternoon to see if the problem of a disappearing cursor pointer has been resolved, and it appears it has.

Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright:  I read this before it was published but since it was released yesterday, I'm including it. It's a journey based on the Canterbury Tales of a group of women who are strangers to each, taking this trek with a hired guide to work out issues in their personal lives.  It's chick lit with an average rating of 4.05 in GoodReads.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins:  This is an entertaining little romp with a surprise ending.  Good for a rainy afternoon.

Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon:  This is another book I read as a prepub. I have read very little spy/espionage fiction in my lifetime so I don't know why I requested this title from NetGalley.  I enjoyed this thoroughly.  Set in Cold-War East Berlin, I was reminded of Mad Magazine's "Spy vs Spy" comic strip.  A German exile from the US after being caught in a McCarthy trap, is enlisted to help gather information by a childhood friend who is unaware that the Americans would like the same from him.  The last book I read on this subject was Armageddon by Leon Uris which was equally fascinating.  Read both!

The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows:  I also received this from NetGalley and looked forward to reading it with relish because I had adored The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society.  The first half was entertaining and read like I would have expected.  The second half was a confused mess.  Overall I was disappointed.

Dead Wake:  The last crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson:  Larson braids several stories together here, that of President Wilson, the German submarine service, the individuals who took the trip and the confusion within the British navy.  It's eminently readable though The Devil in the White City is by far my favorite of his.  It's also shorter.

Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte:  Tarte is a journalist whose specialty is World Beat music.  The subject of this book however is the avian menagerie that he and his wife assemble after they moved to a small farm in  upstate Michigan.  He has had a history of anxiety and neuroses and the subtext is his journey through Zoloft and off of it, making friends with himself in the process.  It's a quick read with laugh-out-loud moments.