The Clasp by Sloane Crosley

The Clasp by Sloane Crosley

Three college friends, Victor, Nathaniel and Kezia, are dealing with life in the real world to varying degrees of success.  Each thought their lives would be different by now; they would be happier, more successful, etc.  But reality just isn’t what they dreamed. 

At the wedding of another college friend the trio attends Victor finds himself learning all about the jewelry collection of the mother of the groom.  She shares her secret hiding place as well as the story of a fantastic missing necklace possibly still hidden in a French chateau during the Nazi occupation.  Then, sadly, she passes away a day or two after the wedding.  The newlyweds are convinced Victor knows where the family jewels are kept but he denies all knowledge.  Victor has become obsessed with locating the necklace in France, for once in his life he is going to stay focused and complete a project!

This is a quirky story about lost souls stuck in a rut spurred out of their comfort zone.  Victor is convinced the necklace is THE necklace referred to in the family short story by Guy de Maupassant’s famous short story.  Nathaniel and Kezia are sure he is making a huge mistake and race across the French countryside to save him from himself.  All three are at crossroads in their lives needing to reevaluate the path life has taken and think about heading in another direction.

Readers in their twenties will enjoy this book, as will anyone who ever took a chance on a dream, regardless of how it turned out.  It’s the journey not the destination right?

A good choice on audiobook – especially since the short story The Necklace is included at the end. 

The Bridge (Foreign Crime Series – Danish and Swedish)

The Bridge (Foreign Crime Series – Danish and Swedish)

A woman’s dead body is placed on the bridge between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden.  Two detectives respond to the case: Saga Noren of Sweden and Martin Rohde of Denmark.  All seems straight-forward; the body is that of a Swedish citizen so it’s Sweden’s case.  That is until the body is removed and discovered to actually be two halves of two different women placed exactly across the border of the two countries.

I finished the tenth (and final) episode of the first series a couple of nights ago and I’m still stunned.  This is one of the, if not the, best written series I’ve watched.  The two detectives are both flawed, extremely so, but they are so realistic and therefore you can identify with them, even if they do something awful.  Saga has great difficulty reading and experiencing emotions while Martin has what seems to be a perfect life, but one that he has great difficulty holding together.  Both detectives return for a new case in series two and I cannot wait to watch it.

Need more convincing to watch this series?  It was so well received that not one, but two remakes have been made: a British/French version as well as an American/Mexican version. 

The Winter Girl by Matt Marinovich

The Winter Girl by Matt Marinovich

Scott and Elise, a married couple from Brooklyn, journey to the east end of Long Island to care for her dying father.  Their marriage is in trouble and Elise spending her days tending to her abusive father in the hospital only to return to her childhood home at night isn’t making things between the couple any better.  Scott becomes obsessed with the house next door, seemingly empty with lights on timers; he doesn’t have much to occupy him as a photographer with little of interest to shoot in the bleak island winter.  One night Scott convinces Elise to break in with him and a moment of passion is the turning point when things start going disastrously wrong. 

This is a short book, only 200 pages, and the most disturbing book I’ve read in a long while.  Towards the end I found myself wondering, what is the most horrible thing I can imagine happening next?  And then it happened. 

I was surprised that there were so many holds on a book I hadn’t heard anything about.  (I put it on hold because it took place on Long Island, not sure how everyone else heard of it.)  Only for those that like their thrillers extremely disturbing and lacking in hope.

The Dinner (Foreign Film – Italian Drama)

The Dinner (Foreign Film – Italian Drama)

Two teenagers fatally beat a homeless woman to death on the streets of Rome.  One parent recognizes her son in the grainy surveillance footage as only a parent could.  Another parent is not fooled by his daughter’s hypothetical questions.  The parents of both children, cousins, come together over dinner to talk about what is to be done.

I really enjoyed the book The Dinner by Herman Koch, but a viewer of the movie will not be bored because the script is much different than the book.  One of the children in the movie is female where in the book they were all (there were three) male which really changes the dynamic and for me made it more chilling.  Also the ending is completely different, I was a little shocked at how it was changed, but it worked.  

Harriet, the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Harriet, the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Harriet M. Welsch is eleven-years old and writes down EVERYTHING about everything and everyone in her notebook.  She has a spy route after school where she listens at doors, hides in dumbwaiters and peeps through skylights to find out what people she has never met are up to that day.  She also writes about all the things happening in her life and her observations about her friends and those she considers enemies.  Since her nurse has left Harriet is not happy and things don’t seem to be going right in her life, but then disaster strikes.  She accidently leaves her notebook behind on a run in the park and her friends read exactly what Harriet has been writing in her notebook about them and now no one wants to be her friend anymore.

I was sure that I had never read this book but when I mentioned that I was reading it to my mother she let me know that I had read all three Harriet books during the summer reading program when I was a kid.  I was a huge mystery fan, and apparently that hasn’t changed too much! 

I loved how dated the book was, yet how timeless in others.  Children were allowed to run loose in New York City in the parks and dad just wanted to relax with a martini when he got home from work; yet also a girl learns loss for the first time when her nurse leaves her to get married and how the truth can sometimes hurt more than a white lie.  It was a fun read about a spunky young girl that would appeal to all children young and old.

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

Rachel Jenner is walking in the park with her dog and her eight-year-old son Ben.  He asks if he can run ahead to the swing, a place he has been to numerous times.  As a single mother she knows she can be overprotective so she gives him this taste of freedom and says yes.  That decision will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Search parties scour the woods for any sign of Ben and as the days tick by everyone involved: Ben’s mom, dad, aunt and even the police, begin to fear the worst.  As with any sensational case the media gets involved and Rachel is under attack.  The public begins to suspect her, but Rachel doesn’t much care.  She just wants to find her son and she begins to piece things together but the problem is getting the police, anyone, to listen to her.

A thriller I couldn’t put down!  I’m pressed for time almost always lately but I made a real effort to squeeze in reading this book because I had to know what happened.  I’m a sucker for mixed media storytelling so between the two points of view, blog posts, interview snippets and more I was hooked.  You won’t see the ending coming!

Trash (Foreign Film – Brazilian Thriller)

Trash (Foreign Film – Brazilian Thriller)

Rafael and Gardo are young teens, trash pickers by trade, living by a huge garbage dump outside of Rio in Brazil.  One day the boys find a wallet.  Inside is money, pictures with numbers on the back and a strange key.  The police come to the dump the next day wanting to know if anyone has found a wallet and offering a reward.  The boys hold their tongues, hoping for a better reward as time goes by and now really curious about what they may have found.  They team up with an acquaintance, another boy who goes by the name Rat, who helps them figure out what the key may open.  This begins a race against time as the boys try to keep a step ahead of the police to expose the corruption at the core of their city.

I was already familiar with the people who sift through the garbage for recyclable materials to sell from the movie Waste Land, which is why this film caught my eye.  That and Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara also star in this film an American missionary and teacher.  The boys, Rafael, Gardo and Rat, are simply wonderful.  These are close friends that are determined to do what is right in the face of incredible odds and you want them to rise above the life they have, but at the same time you recognize that they are happy with the life they were leading because they had each other.  You’re on the edge of your seat because there is a good chance they will disappear or be killed by the police, or from a bad fall, at any time.

If you enjoy thrillers, love stories where right triumphs over might, or just love a well told and well filmed story.

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Lucy Barton is in a New York City hospital to have her appendix removed.  There are complications and she is faced with a lonely recovery; her husband hates hospitals and her young daughters are busy with school.  One day when she opens her eyes Lucy’s mother is sitting in the chair at the end of the bed.  Lucy hasn’t seen her mother in years, knows her mother has never traveled far from their hometown of Amgash, Illinois, yet there she is.  What follows is the weeklong conversation between an estranged mother and daughter and how that week has a great impact on Lucy’s life as a mother, wife and writer.

I listened to this book, but I may have liked it better if I read it.  I find it grating when adult children constantly call their parents mommy and daddy and on audio I cringed whenever it happened, which was often.  Also, the book is short, I like concise stories but this was the rare occasion when I thought it may have been too short.  I felt like I there was a lot I didn’t know.  I love books that leave you with questions, but I felt like there were too many questions and I didn’t know the characters as well as I would have liked. 

Don’t go by me, this is an extremely well-reviewed book and people who aren’t me will probably like it!

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Sara Lindqvist is doing something daring!  Finding herself unemployed after the bookshop she worked in closes she decides to take her pen pal Amy up on her offer to visit for a few months.  Sara has never done anything so adventurous.  Yes, Amy is an elderly woman living in the small town of Broken Wheel, Iowa, but still it’s America!  A real vacation, a real adventure, her first time away from Sweden!  

Sara is a little concerned when Amy doesn’t show up at the nearby town of Hope to pick her up.  When finally, after a couple of hours, one of the townsfolk Amy mentioned in her letters does arrive, Sara learns the horrible reason for Amy’s tardiness.  Amy has passed away.  Sara is at a loss and starts trying to figure out what she will do but the town insists that any guest of Amy’s is a guest of theirs and they insist she stay in Amy’s house and enjoy her time in Broken Wheel.  But Sara is a bit bored.  After seeing the empty storefronts on Main Street she has an idea: opening a bookshop and using the books Amy left behind as the inventory to start her endeavor.  The locals are a little confused why they would need, or even want, books, but they are happy that their tourist is happy and pretty soon no one in Broken Wheel, not even Sara, can imagine Broken Wheel without her.

Any book lover will love this book.  There are plenty of references to classic and popular literature and I’m sure everyone will recognize at least one.  The locals are set in their ways, as is Sara and it’s a joy to watch all these characters step out of their comfort zones and rally around a foreign entity: meaning both Sara and the books.  There are some serious subjects addressed in the pages, but like many novels about small towns, it is told lightheartedly and with humor.  By the time you finish you’ll want to take a vacation in Broken Wheel yourself.

Fun on audio – Lorelei King reads Amy’s letters to Sara and I had a hard time picturing an elderly woman since she voices the Stephanie Plum book!  Fiona Hardingham does a wonderful job with the lion’s share of the narration and gets the local accents as well as Sara’s Swedish one spot on.