Month: August 2022

After suffering through a couple of books that could only be described as, well, duds, I finally found two winners. What do they have in common? They are both emotional, with fantastic main and supporting characters. They are both bravely written. What do I mean by that? I mean that they are books you don’t want to skim. You want to savor them. You want to marinate in their phrasing and uniqueness. In fact, you will find yourself playing them out in your mind like the movie adaptations they both should be (with the guarantee they wouldn’t get ruined.)

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, by Annie Lyons, could be seen as a female version of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, but that is where the similarities end. Unlike Ove, Eudora has never been married. She’s dedicated herself to the care of her mother and sister. Life doesn’t have much meaning beyond her self-imposed duty and a promise to her father long ago. Now she has a choice to make: endure modern society with its fast-paced ways, rudeness, and digital detachment? Or speed up the inevitable? While Eudora explores whether or not she still has a purpose, we journey back in time and learn more about her earlier years. They were far from easy. Yet, patience, endurance, and serving others can often boomerang back to us when we least expect it. I highly recommend this brilliant book about Eudora Honeysett’s brilliant life! 9.5/10 Stars

The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman, by Julietta Henderson is that Norman, age twelve, really isn’t that funny. But he is smart, polite, kind, and very good to his single mum, Sadie. He is content to be the straight man to the real firecracker, his best friend, Jax. Jax is a force of nature. He’s the one with the ideas, the bravado, and the goals. After all, how many kids would name their future stand-up routine “Sausages and Gravitas?” Only Jax. Except for one problem. Jax is dead. His death pulls the rug out from under Norman and mum, Sadie, needs to find a way to breathe life back into her darling son. With a little help from a willing, unexpected accomplice, it just might be possible. What happens next is the road trip of a lifetime in this book that will grab you by the heart and not let go until the very end. This is brave writing. I loved it. 9.5/10 Stars

Meena Dave always knew she was adopted and she made her peace with it. Her adoptive parents were kind and loving. There was no reason to search for her biological mother. But she’s also been on her own for a very long time, orphaned at sixteen. That combination has turned her into a semi-well-adjusted, but solitary and nomadic, person. If you love someone they will get taken away. Home is wherever you are at the moment.

This detached philosophy extends to Meena’s career as a freelance photojournalist, a job that takes her all over the world. A post office box in Manhattan and a rented room in London–these are the only “bases” she needs–until at age thirty four she inherits a Boston apartment from a woman that she’s never met. A lovely space with legal conditions dictating a little of this and a little of that, Meena is forced into some decisions about permanence and commitment. She is also thrust into the building’s personal dynamic that has its own set of rules and a cast of colorful supporting characters.

The Candid Life of Meena Dave is certainly not the first book to address the definition of family, nor will it be the last, but it is definitely unique. Everything comes together at the end, but the journey there is intriguing. (Trust me, that earlier assumption you probably made from my summary will be challenged.) Meena is sensitive and multi-dimensional. We feel for her. Like Meena, we all have a desire to belong and we all have defense mechanisms. We all must adjust to Life’s surprises, deciding when to get out of our comfort zones and take risks. Sometimes the riskiest thing we can do is open our hearts.

I recommend this book highly. (There is a little bit of language, but don’t let that stop you from giving it a try.)

9.5/10 Stars

About twenty years ago I visited my brother when he lived in Beaverton, Oregon. One day when I was on my own while he was at work, I spent several hours exploring the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.) The majority of the exhibits are highly visual and tactile, focusing on things like gravity and magnets, those that make for an interactive experience.

Except for one large, brown fish in a tank along a wall.

The tank was in a walking area, not a stop-and-look area–which was what everyone did–just walked on by. Its quiet occupant was largely ignored. As a curious, lone visitor not shackled to a tired or excited child, I was free to move through each area a little slower. Even after two decades I still remember this fish. He/She/It watched EVERYTHING. And I watched him watch. I watched him watch me watching him. And it was like everything else disappeared.

After a few minutes we were in a rhythm. I walked to one end of the tank. He swam to that end. I walked to the other end of the tank. He followed. I put my finger near the glass and moved it back and forth. He followed my finger. It was odd. It was memorable. It was beautiful. I spent eight hours touring the OMSI that day, chuckling at gleeful kids playing with static electricity, watching the IMAX films, going down in the submarine parked outside, treating myself to lunch and a requisite magnet from the gift shop. But the only real detail I’ve never forgotten is that fish.

So when I read about Marcellus the Great Pacific Octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures, I was immediately transported back to that day. I cannot tell you the species of that fish. I cannot tell you its life span. I can tell you that there seemed to be an intelligence and a loneliness that was going unnoticed by everyone around us.

Marcellus, however, is acknowledged as a “remarkably bright creature.” In fact, he will tell you that himself. Yes, this is a book partly narrated by an octopus. And you will fall in love with him as he orchestrates certain events between the people he likes the most. How does he do this? You’ll need to discover that yourself. Suffice to say that there are two sets of people, some in California and some in Washington State. Little by little you will read about how their stories are interwoven. Marcellus will see to that, I assure you.

I have been watching emerging reviews for this debut novel for weeks and all of them are positive. That amount of hype can often lead to disappointment. Not the case here. The accolades are well-deserved. If nothing else, you will never look at an octopus in the same way again. Perhaps you will think twice about underestimating any creature.

9.5/10 Stars