Daniel Mason

Fiction 2023 | 372 pages

North Woods begins a little slowly for me, trying to wrap my arms around characters, plot, and writing style.  But then, about page 30, the character of the apple appears, everything falls into place,  and the book hooks me.    The Apple is a character, not a thing.  It had its own passion, purpose, insight, inspiration.

The story of North Woods begins when a young couple abandon their Puritan community and travel to and through the north woods of Massachusetts.  They build a small, rustic cabin to live in.  We then learn all about the people who inhabit the cabin (and change it into a yellow house) for the next, perhaps 150, years or so.  There is the apple orchardist, a crime reporter, a pair of spinster twins, a mother and her schizophrenic son, even a beetle ... we get to observe the house and the forest it is in, through the beetle's eyes.

While the chapters talk about different inhabitants and move forward the story, Mason creates links (sometimes perhaps a bit too coincidentally) among the characters.  A relative, a connection to True Crimes magazine, a lost letter.  And they are totally delightful. While Mason introduces each character and you don't know who they are, you are informed within a couple of pages in each chapter.  His characters are so unique, one from the other, and some you get to know quite in depth, while others are more fleeting.  My favorite are the spinster twins.  Such depth of their love.  Ultimately, such depth of their dysfunction.

The story, true to its title, is also about the woods in which they live.  Trees, animals, flowers, rain, all the  many changes over time.

The end confused me.  This is the first time I think I had to go research a book with the question, "what does the ending mean?"  Once I learned that, it made total sense.  Do not ignore the spiritual messages, the role of death, and the inclusion of magical realism in this book.

And I am left with a question.  If you have read this book, or you do read it, what happened to the two bodies that were under the kitchen floorboards?  Someone must have found them!  What did they do about them?

My college roommate Janet suggested North Woods to me.  She still knows me well, 54 years later!  In case it is unclear, I absolutely recommend this book.  Enjoy the characters, the story, the soul, the woods, the humor, the depth, the visual vitality of nature and a yellow house..

October 2025

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Fiction 2016/ 230 pages

The story is primarily about teenage girls who are best friends, and their relationships with their younger siblings and their parents.  Males join the cast a bit later and are also important.  It is 1950 in Alaska, a time of significant change,  when Alaska because a state and land laws change.  The characters are indigenous ... Inupiaq, Athabascan, and others, and white.

The title is a reference to how different cultures and people are perceived and understood (by themselves and others) through the lens of their homes, customs, and traditions. Differences, yes, but so many similarities also. There is tragedy, fun, love, sorrow.

What is astounding about Hitchcock's writing, in this, her debut novel, is how she differentiates the characters by customs, traditions, history, family status, ability, color.  Of course Dumpling, who is Athabascan, will see a situation differently from Ruth, who is white.  The parents in this novel are also quite different in their parenting style.  One of the dads is supportive of all the children, whether they are his or not.  Another dad is abusive and violent.

One young woman becomes pregnant, and she is sent off to a convent ... an entire story in itself!  There she discovers the links between her family and the nuns.

Three young men are stowaways on a ferry, and their fascinating story becomes its own subplot.  (But don't worry ... they all tie together in the end.)

There is a character list and a map at the beginning of the book, which I found imperative.  Nevertheless, using the character list all through the book, I could not keep track of who is who.  This many characters was an unnecessary error on the part of the author, in my humble opinion, and is why The Smell of Other People's Houses earned three hearts from me instead of four.

Yes, an interesting and visual read.

Thank you Carol for the loan.

September 2025

Rachel Joyce

Fiction 2020 | 353 pages

For a while I thought I was reading something that was a joke, tongue in cheek, or maybe designed for a younger audience.  And then Miss Benson’s Beetle fell into place.  And it kept getting better and better.

Margery Benson, 46, is a London school teacher by occupation, but an entomologist in her heart and soul.  One day she walks out of the classroom and chooses to do what she has wanted to do since she was a young girl, and her father taught her all about beetles.  She decides to travel to New Caledonia, where scientists believe there is a species of beetle than no one has ever seen.  It is a golden beetle.

The year is 1950.  Travel to New Caledonia will take six weeks, mostly by ship.  Margery knows she needs an assistant to help her on this expedition, and she goes in search.  She finally finds Enid, who is not at all the person Margery had in mind.

Margery is intellectual, introverted, serious, frumpy, overweight, a planner and strategist with one suitcase and one box of species-collecting supplies.  Enid, 26, is very high energy, vivacious, sexual, a risk-taker, an extreme extrovert, doesn’t have a passport, didn’t get her vaccinations.  She dresses loudly and has died her hair yellow. She tries to maneuver her four suitcases.  She steals things. Clearly, there are going to be challenges in this relationship.

And there are.  But at some point, the characters and the reader realize this book isn’t about beetles, it is about the deep, abiding friendship Margery and Enid build.  They arrive in New Caledonia, and Miss Benson’s Beetle just gets better with every page.  Nearing the end, it becomes a page turner.

The book is fun,  but also quite insightful.  Not only is it a powerful statement on friendship, it also portrays a strong picture of what it is like to be a professional woman in 1950, and what travel is like 75 years ago.

I recommend this book for a fun read and for a read that will speak to your heart.

Thank you to Pam for this gift to me when I was unwell.

September 2025

Ellen Waterston

Nonfiction 2020 | 331 pages

Do you know the author of this book?  Ellen Waterston is Oregon's poet laureate.  I am going to a workshop/retreat led by her in February, so I thought I should read something she wrote!  Come join me at the retreat .... one week in Todos Santos in the winter.  https://www.writingranch.com/todos-santos-writing-retreat.

Once I moved past my disappointment ... I assumed this book was a hiking book and we would read all about Ellen's challenges hiking the Oregon Desert Trail (ODT) ... I became full engrossed in what is really is.  She educates us about the high desert:  the land, economics, ranchers and environmentalists, cows and BLM, water, birds and wild animals from horses to sage rats.  We learn about the formation and work of ONDA, the High Desert Museum, the Desert Trail Alliance, and numerous other groups and organizations.  We witness the coming together of ranchers, BLM, the Forest service, hikers, and environmentalists to carve out solutions to how we use this land. We are educated in the formation of the ODT.  Because Bend is the western terminus of the ODT, and many who are involved with the high desert are Bendites, Ellen comments often on the interaction between the ODT and Bend.  She tells us about many, many players who have been and still are activists and advocates for the protection of the high desert.  I would be surprised if you make it through this book and don't read about someone you know.

Ellen's writing is crisp and clear.  I like it!  She integrates many quotes and passages.  Most important to me, as an occasional reader of nonfiction, she is funny!  Her humor sustains the reader through some difficult topics.

If you are a Bend person (as many of my blog readers are) you DEFINITELY should read this book.  If you have not yet developed a passion for the high desert (I have ... consider where I live) this book will raise your awareness and consciousness and maybe even love for the amazing lands that lie to the east of us.

September 2025

Liz Moore

Fiction 2024 | 496 pages

God of the Woods is a mystery thriller that revolves around the disappearance of Barbara, a 13-year-old girl, from a summer camp.  Moore offers us strong character development, a complex plot, and an unusual setting.  The camp and the preserve surrounding it have been in Barbara's family for decades.  As a matter of fact, her parents live on the property.  And this is not the first time a child has disappeared from this camp.  Barbara's brother Bear disappeared 14 years ago, from the same location.

In the early pages we come to know the campers, the camp counselors, and various staff members.  After Barbara's disappearance, the point of view really shifts to the first female investigator in New York ... Judyta, who also goes by Judy.

We move around a bit in the timeline, from the 1950's to the present day, which is August 1975., although most of it is in the present.  The novel is praised for its exploration of class, privilege, power, and family dysfunction.  And there are a lot of these elements!

There is a wide range of function/dysfunction among the female characters, from Alice, Barbara's mother, who is addicted to prescription drugs, to astounding competence and insight from Barbara, T J, and Judy.  These personalities allow us to witness a variety of perspectives.  And no, there isn't a man in the book whom I would describe as functional and healthy, except for a minor character, Judy's boss.

This is our book club read for September.  I can tell already, by a casual conversation, that the discussion may be lively, as two of us disagree about whether or not Peter did the right thing by not telling his wife Alice something very important.

No question ... read this book.  If you can, engage with someone else who has read it.  I think the conversation could be insightful.

Thank you, Pam, for suggesting God of the Woods.

September 2025

Tana French

Fiction 2007 | 496 pages

Dense.  Dense is the only word I can use to describe this book.  Dense especially in action.  Another author might write, “he stopped his truck and climbed out, lighting a cigarette and leaning against the truck.” French would write something like, “he gently opened the truck door, and with a sigh, climbed out.  He searched for and found his lighter in his jeans pocket, lit his cigarette, and blew a smoke ring into the constellation Orion.”

The authors descriptions are detailed, slow, and vivid.  We follow our two main characters, Murder Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox, through a solid two weeks or longer of their investigation of the murder of a young girl, Katy Devlin who is 12 and has a twin sister.  Even now, I can picture the interaction between Cassie and Rob, how they stood, where their hands were, the looks on their faces.

But Rob has a special and intimate involvement in this case, as his two best friends disappeared when they were 12, in nearly the same place.

Speaking of investigation, you will follow the steps of the investigation with the same amount of detail. I am astonished to learn how many actions the investigative teams take, interviewing people, following up on alibis, scraping all the dirt and land near the place of death.  It is nothing like what we see in a movie, nor have I ever gained such insight from another mystery novel.

The relationship between Cass and Rob is a precious, hard-to-believe, delightful friendship.

100 pages before the end, the murderer is revealed.  However, this is followed by a complex unfolding of the motive for the murder.  There is nothing in this fine book that touches only the surface.  Deep action, deep characters.  I recommend it … and please know it will take a while to read.

September 2025

Sandra Cisneros

Fiction 1984/ 110 pages

The House on Mango Street is set in a working-class, urban Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois.  We are here for about one year.

The protagonist Esperanza, who turns 13 during the narrative, lives with her impoverished family in a dilapidated, small red brick house on Mango Street. This environment shapes Esperanza's identity and her desire to escape the limited opportunities and cultural insularity it represents, fueling her yearning for a better life and self-expression.

The vignettes are inspired by the author's real life, growing up in a similar working-class neighborhood in Chicago.  The short vignettes range from happy to sad, joyous to grieving.

The book is sweet, endearing, enjoyable, interesting, and kind of a waste of time.

August 2025

James Baldwin

Fiction 1956 | 159 pages

(still technical challenges, so I re-titled this book!)  Giovanni's Room is the real name!

So, truly, is becoming an adult so difficult?  For David, who loves Giovanni and simultaneously loves his ex-girlfriend, Hella. it is that difficult.  There is so much shame, so much secrecy, so much dirt and rot and filth, and at times, so much love ...  how does someone live with that?  *SPOILER ALERT* Giovanni doesn't live with it.  He dies.  Hells doesn't live with it.  She goes home to her parents in the Midwest.  David ... does he stay in Paris, or return to America?  America, I think.

This is a sad, gripping novel, magnified by the times.  We don't know exactly when the story occurs, but since it was copyrighted in 1956, we know it takes place 70 years ago or so.  David cannot face his attraction to men or his bisexuality.  And his difficult introverted struggle is what Giovanni’s Room is about.  Giovanni's room, where David discovers his sexuality.  Giovanni’s room, filthy and small and decrepit.  Giovanni's room, where shame, secrecy, love, discovery, wonder and fear lived so excruciatingly large.

And then there is Baldwin’s writing.

James Baldwin, if this book is any indication among his 17 published works, is astounding, exquisite, nearly unparalleled as a writer.  What a beautiful writer he is!  Spectacular use of the language.  A flow and a beat that draws you in.  A plot that keeps you right here, turning the page.

Two of my favorite lines from Giovanni's Room:

"Life in that room seemed to be occurring underwater, as I say, and it is certain I underwent a sea change there."  Pg 85. A gorgeous, subtle metaphor.  And ...

"Behind the counter sat one of those absolutely inimitable and indomitable ladies, produced only in the city of Paris ... " (pg 50).  I had to look up both of the "big" words in this sentence, but once I did, I had such a strong visual and visceral reaction to these women ... I can picture them most certainly, sitting at their cash registers, even today, a few days later.

Oh yes, read this classic from the Goodreads Book of the Year list for 1956.  Certainly!

August 2025

Carson McCullers

Fiction 2046/ 161 pages

The Member of the Wedding tells the story of Frankie Addams, a lonely twelve-year-old girl in a small Southern town, who becomes obsessed with her older brother's upcoming wedding as a way to escape her loneliness and isolation. The novel explores themes of adolescence, identity, and belonging through Frankie's interactions with her family's cook, Berenice, and her six-year-old cousin, John Henry.

It is a story about moving from childhood and into adolescence through a summer of being afraid, when she was twelve, and a long weekend (the wedding weekend) of being fixated on the wedding.  Frankie, who by this point in the book has renamed herself F. Jasmine, creates a dream,  a desire to move away, to travel and be on her own.  She is attempting not only to curb her isolation but also is beginning to think about creating purpose and meaning in her life.   She wants to become part of something bigger than herself. She imagines herself as part of the wedding party and even contemplates joining the honeymoon. A confusing time for any young person.

The book also addresses race through the strong relationship she has with their Black cook, Berenice.

This book is one of the GoodReads books of the year, 1946.  I would call it a sweet read, but nothing you should feel compelled to pick up.  My criticism would be that the author is clearly an adult, and writes like an adult woman, and though the character of Frankie/ F. Jasmine is interesting and complex, I don't have a sense the author was actually able to represent and portray being twelve.

August 2025

Justin Torres

Fiction 2011| 126 pages

This is a stark, dark, painful, and disturbing book.  The Puerto Rican father is violent, mean, irrational, emotionally unhealthy.  The mother is emotionally unhealthy and allows herself to be victimized,  but is otherwise a sort of empty figure.

The three boys, three brothers, Manny (the eldest), Joel (in the middle) and the never-named youngest (the narrator), lead lives that are at best confusing and at worst unsalvageable.  I often thought while reading We the Animals, that "boys will be boys".  They steal tomatoes.  They throw a rock through the window of an apparently abandoned vehicle. They buy milk for a cat who just just gave birth to a litter of kittens in a dumpster.  But then they also take quite mean and anti-social actions as well (mostly taught to them by their father.)  Frequently you can read literally or between-the-lines that the boys are also crying out to love, be loved, and have normalcy in their lives.

I can't find the redeeming message, except to lay blame at the foot of an uninformed, uneducated couple who did not know how to raise children.  I also find I am quite angry at the author at the ending ... again blaming the parents for behavior they don't like and allegedly created.

All the boys really want is love.

I can't come up with a really good reason to read; it is simply depressing.

I will be FASCINATED to hear what you liked about this book, Rene, enough to recommend it to your book club!  Clearly, we have seen different attributes.

August 2025