SONGS IN ORDINARY TIME by Mary McGarry Morris

Songs In Ordinary Time was a tough read. Marie Fermoyle is a single mother of three raising her children in 1960's Atkinson, Vermont. Marie has so many strikes against her - she married 'above her station'; her ex is the town drunk and laughingstock; her daughter has an affair with a young priest; her house is rundown. Marie's pride completely prevents her from asking for help or accepting it when it is offered. Marie is overworked, struggling financially and lonely.

The stage is set for the arrival of Omar Duvall, a con man who insinuates himself into the lives of the residents of Atkinson and, in particular, the Fermoyle family. Duvall carries a dangerous secret and Marie's youngest knows all about it. Benji is so desperate to have his mother happy that he hides this knowledge from everyone.

The author does a wonderful job of developing the characters in this book - not just the Fermoyle family and Omar, but many of the residents of Atkinson as well. This book is not a 'page-turner' but it kept me interested until the end.

HALF-BLOOD BLUES by Esi Edugyan

The story of the Jews in the Holocaust is an all too familiar and terrible one.  In 'Half-Blood Blues', Esi Edugyan tells the story of a lesser known but equally persecuted people.  The Hot Time Swingers was a jazz band in Germany in the 1930's.  The members of the band - African Americans from Baltimore, Germans, Jews and a mixed race (mischling) German bond over their love of Jazz.  As this type of music becomes banned in Germany, it becomes dangerous for the musicians to remain there.  One by one, they are arrested or abandon the band for their own safety.  The two Americans and the young black German escape to Paris where they have the opportunity to meet and record music with the great Louis Armstrong.  He immediately recognizes the genius of Hiero, the 19 year old trumpet player.  When the invasion of Paris becomes imminent, the three must find a way to escape.

This book travels back and forth between 1930's Europe and present-day Baltimore, where Sid and Chip now reside.  Hiero's music exists only in a 3 1/2 minute recording.  It is so brilliant that he has a large group of followers.  A documentary is made and Sid and Chip travel back to Europe for the premiere.

The book is told through the eyes of Sid.  Sid is a talented musician - not an inspired one.  Against the backdrop of Europe in the '30's and early '40's he relates the story of the band, their struggles, envy, jealousy, fear and eventually, possibly, redemption.

Hot Blood Blues was shortlisted for nearly every major book award - eventually taking home the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.  Well deserved!

WALKING THOUGH AND OTHER STORIES by Francine Fleming, Maria Jemmott, Shirley Merith, Manjit Singh and Paula Smellie

Walking Through and Other Stories is a compilation of five short stories by five different authors.  'Buckets of Wonderment' by Manjit Singh takes place in India.  Naina lives a life of struggle in service to a wealthy family.  She dreams of a future of romance and financial security only to find that perfect happiness was right beside her all along.  Shirley Merith writes of a chance encounter on an airplane in 'High Trade'.  Camille is a high powered advertising executive.  Although she welcomes romance, she is a woman who can achieve success and satisfaction through her own efforts.  'Walking Through' by Francine Fleming follows a wonderful narrative by a woman in a seniors' home.  Dahlia tells the story of her life over a series of visits that Megan makes to her father at the home.  Is Dahlia who she seems? Tricia gets a new lease on life when she visits her niece and nephew over the winter holidays in Maria Jemmott's 'A December to Remember'.  In 'Bone Keeper' by Paula Smellie, an elderly Inuit woman who has been raised by a French Canadian couple risks all to travel to northern Quebec to find the family she has never seen.

So, is this collection of stories great literature?  Probably not.  What these authors have done, however, is create characters who are relatable.  Each one had something that I could see in myself and, in the end, I cared about them.

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger

I remember being so impressed with this book when I was seventeen years old.  I could identify with Holden - his sense of aimlessness, his sense of entitlement, his sense of alienation.

Fast forward 50 years.  Holden Caulfield is still aimless, entitled and alienated.  I can no longer identify.  (This is the book that inspired Mark David Chapman to shoot John Lennon?  How?)  I'm not sorry I read it again - but I can wait another 50 years to pick it up for the third time.

DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING by Madeleine Thien

The 2016 ScotiaBank Giller prizewinner is a gem of a book.  'Do Not Say We Have Nothing' takes the reader from modern day Vancouver, back to China of the 1960's through the Cultural Revolution and to the uprising at Tianamen Square.

This is not always an easy book to read.  Sometimes I found the timelines confusing and sometimes I had to struggle to work out who was who.  However, the writing is beautiful.  Every day when I picked the book up, I had to remind myself of where I was in the narrative, but whenever I put the book down my thought was, 'This is such a good book!'.  The section on the Tianamen Square uprising, in particular, was so vividly engrossing and I could imagine myself on the sidelines in the students' struggle.

I have put this book aside to read again - it just won't let me go.

ADULT ONSET by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Mary Rose (MR - called Mister by her friends) is a stay-at-home author, watching her two young children while her wife is away directing a play.  This novel (somewhat autobiographical) follows MR during the week that she is alone at home with her two children.  MR carries around a lot of baggage.  She has a complicated relationship with her mother - stemming from her mum's multiple pregnancy losses and the depression that followed.  MR herself suffers from chronic pain in her arm - again related to possible abuse she suffered as a child.  

I could not warm to this character - she lives in her head and is constantly second guessing every thought, every action.  Really, I found her to be about ten kinds of crazy and exhausting to be around.

Ann-Marie MacDonald is one of my favourite authors.  'Fall on Your Knees' was brilliant and the second novel, 'The Way the Crow Flies' was even better for me.  I love her writing style and her complex back stories.  'Adult Onset', however, is definitely my third favourite of her three books.

THE ACB of HONORA LEE by Kate de Goldi

What a lovely book!  Perry is the only child of very, very busy parents.  When one of her scheduled after school programmes falls through they are left scrambling on how to fill Perry's Thursday afternoon.  Perry asks to be allowed to visit her grandmother who lives in an assisted care facility and suffers from dementia.  In order to connect with her Gran (who never remembers her - and thinks she is a boy) Perry decides to make an alphabet book to help her remember their visits.

This is a lovely, beautifully illustrated story about relationships and acceptance.