2020

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Well, that’s one week of sheltering in place! Who knows how many more to go… I hope everyone is staying safe and cozy and healthy at home, with lots and lots of books to keep you company.

What did I read during the last week?

Hearts of Oak by Eddie Robson: Loved it! So weird and amazing. My review is here.

Becoming by Michelle Obama: Incredibly powerful and inspiring. My review is here.

Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson, #12) by Patricia Briggs: I love this series, and this new book was exactly what I needed this week! My review is here.

Read but not reviewed:

Nevertheless, She Persisted: This e-book freebie is a collection of flash fiction by some amazing writers, all starting with those famously awful words: She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted. Definitely worth checking out!

Alone With the Stars by David R. Gillham: This Audible original was free last month, and I’m glad I gave it a try! This brief story (under 3 hours) cuts back and forth between Amelia Earhart on her final flight and a teen-aged girl in Florida who picks up her distress signals. It’s moving and nicely narrated — and made me want to find more to read about Amelia Earhart.

Pop culture — Outlander, season 5:

Here’s my latest Outlander reaction post:

Episode 506, “Better To Marry Than Burn” (3/2/2020) – here

Other TV watching:

My son and I watched Jumanji: The Next Level, and you know what? It’s a perfect diversion for these crazy days. We laughed. A lot.

A Quiet Place was so creepy! I’m glad we watched during the day while the sun was shining.

And…. I watched To All The Boys – PS I Still Love You. It was cute, but considering how much I loved the first movie, this one was just okay.

Fresh Catch:

Thanks, Orbit, for sending me this:

Can’t wait to get started!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: Really fun so far. And another book with a terrific cover!

Now playing via audiobook:

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert: Sometimes, light and sweet is exactly what’s needed. Even though it’s a little more explicit than I tend to prefer in my romance stories.

Ongoing reads:

The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon: The latest in Outlander Book Club’s group read-alongs. A very fun re-read.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: My book group’s newest classic read is now underway. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week.

So many books, so little time…

22Mar2020

Insta-Reaction: Outlander, Season 5, Episode 6

Posted in Outlander by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Season 5 is here! I’ll be writing an “Insta-Reaction” post for each episode soon after viewing, to share some initial thoughts, questions, reactions — you name it.

Warning:

I may be talking about events from this episode, other episodes, and/or the book series… so if you’d rather not know, now’s your chance to walk away!

Outlander, episode 506: “Better To Marry Than Burn”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

At Jocasta’s wedding, Jamie learns Tryon’s true motivation for ending the Regulator threat.

My take:

Major plot points:

A wedding, locusts, and make-up sex in a barn. What more do you need to know?

In a bit more detail:

Jocasta is going through with her plan to marry Duncan Innes, despite a last minute plea from Murtagh to wait for him.
We learn more about Jocasta’s past back in Scotland.
Jamie and Claire get a lead on a connection to Stephen Bonnet, from the odious Philip Wylie.
Claire and Jamie fight, then have the aforementioned make-up sex in a barn.
On the Ridge, a plague of locusts descends, but Roger rises to the occasion and saves the day.
Governor Tryon is aiming for a transfer to New York, but meanwhile, he plans to defeat those pesky Regulators once and for all — this time, on the battlefield.

Insta-reaction:

We open in Scotland, 1746, just after the battle of Culloden, as Hector Cameron, wife Jocasta, and daughter Morna are on a mad dash to escape. An unfortunate interception by a pair of redcoats puts their load of gold at risk, and as shots are fired, the British soldiers and Morna are all killed. Hector drags Jocasta from Morna’s dead body and they continue their escape. Brutal!

Back in the main storyline of the show, it’s the eve of Jocasta’s wedding, a lavish affair at River Run. First, she signs legal paperwork making little Jemmy her heir. Guests arrive, and it’s all very fancy and posh. Duncan seems like a nice enough man — maybe wealthier and with property, as compared to book Duncan — but it’s not a love match for Jocasta by any means.

Lord John is among the wedding guests, being panted over by all the single society girls. Governor Tryon may be awful, but I do love his wife. Philip Wylie is gross and awful, coming on to Claire in a gross and awful way, and later trying to get physical with her — which she fights off very proficiently, but then Jamie appears being all “grrrrrr, unhand my wife” and things get even more tense.

Rather than stab the man with his pointy little knife, Jamie challenges him to a card game. He bets Claire’s wedding rings, which pisses her off. Jamie insists it’s all for Bree’s sake, because Wylie has a connection to Bonnet, and they’re trying to find a way to meet with him so Jamie can take revenge.

After winning the card game, a very drunk Jamie finds Claire in the stables, where the hot barn sex happens. Oh, these two. They’ve definitely still got it.

Back on the Ridge, we get what I hope will be an every-episode glimpse of adorable Adso, playing with something on the floor that turns out to be a locust. Uh oh. That’s not good. The people of the Ridge are in a panic about the oncoming swarm and want to burn all the fields, which Roger is sure is a terrible idea. He remembers a story from his childhood, which inspires him to use smoke to drive away the locusts instead. His efforts work, and suddenly he’s a hero! All the men who’d doubted him before are now fans. Yay, Roger!

There’s a tear-filled scene between Murtagh and Jocasta the night before her wedding. He asks her to wait for him, and she explains that she’ll never pledge herself to another man who loves his cause more than he loves her. Not only does she believe Hector’s devotion to the Jacobite cause cost her her daughter Morna, it turns out that her two other daughters died in the aftermath of Culloden as well. For a woman who usually comes across as hard as nails, it was a touching and very sad scene.

And we end with Tryon telling Jamie to gather up the militia and get ready for battle. This is not good. Neither is the parting shot of slimy lawyer Neil Forbes telling Stephen Bonnet that “his” son now owns River Run.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

There’s absolutely no fall-out from last week’s murder. So, apparently devout Catholic Jamie isn’t much bothered by the sin of taking a life? Show, this makes no sense, but okay, sweep it under the rug if you must.

I liked the contrast of the fanciness of the River Run party and the desperate, sweaty work of trying to save the crops and the settlement on the Ridge. It was nice to see Brianna and Roger working together, and to see Roger coming out on top for once.

As for Jocasta and Murtagh… well, we all wondered whether Murtagh’s role in the show would replace Duncan’s, and now we know. So Jocasta has herself a new husband, and Murtagh is heading back to be a rebel leader.

At least Claire and Jamie are happy! For now.

It’s been at least 5 or 6 years for me since I read The Fiery Cross, so I’m quite fuzzy on the details of what happens in the book and when. But I remember enough to know that next week’s episode is going to be very, very bad for the Frasers and Mackenzies.

Save

22Mar2020

Book Review: Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson, #12) by Patricia Briggs

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson, #12)
Author: Patricia Briggs
Publisher: Ace
Publication date: March 17, 2020
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, faces a threat unlike any other in this thrilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
I am Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman.
My only “superpowers” are that I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote and fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places and a pack of werewolves at my back. It looks like I’m going to need them.
Centuries ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill–until she locked her doors against them. They left behind their great castles and troves of magical artifacts. They abandoned their prisoners and their pets. Without the fae to mind them, those creatures who remained behind roamed freely through Underhill wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived.
Now one of those prisoners has escaped. It can look like anyone, any creature it chooses. But if it bites you, it controls you. It lives for chaos and destruction. It can make you do anything–even kill the person you love the most. Now it is here, in the Tri-Cities. In my territory.
It won’t, can’t, remain.
Not if I have anything to say about it.

A new Mercy book is always cause for celebration! Twelve books in, the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series is still going strong. Long may Mercy reign!

Mercy, our favorite VW mechanic and mate of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack Alpha, is tough, strong, determined, loyal… and also easily hurt by anything that damages the bond between her and Adam.

And, in a move that absolutely broke my heart, author Patricia Briggs kicks off this newest adventure in the series by letting us know that something is very, very wrong with Mercy and Adam’s mate bond. He’s holding himself apart from Mercy, and it’s tearing her heart to pieces.

But there’s other trouble as well. A dangerous new enemy is taking over people’s minds and making them do terrible things. A group of outsider wolves are trying to invade Adam’s territory. And the scary vampire Wulfe seems to be newly obsessed with Mercy.

In typical Mercy fashion, she never backs down when her loved ones are in danger, and she throws herself into the fight against everything threatening her marriage, her friends, and her pack.

I won’t say too much about the plot, but I loved the answer to the riddles about the bad guy’s identity, and I was thrilled when a certain magical artifact makes an appearance after being gone for a while.

I tend to give all Mercy books 5 stars because I just love this series so much! But, relative to some of the other books in the series, I’d put Smoke Bitten as maybe a smidge less earth-shaking, so I’m being a little stingy here and only going with 4.5! Still a great book, but not quite the best of the best!

As I said, a new Mercy book is always cause for celebration… but also sadness, because now that I’ve read the newest, it’ll be another year of waiting for the next installment.

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of reading this series yet, jump in! I love the characters, the world-building, the relationships… just really everything. Mercy is an amazing lead character — you’ll love her too!

19Mar2020

Book Review: Hearts of Oak by Eddie Robson

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Hearts of Oak
Author: Eddie Robson
Publisher: Tor
Publication date: March 17, 2020
Length: 272 pages
Genre: Science fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

The buildings grow.
And the city expands.
And the people of the land are starting to behave abnormally.
Or perhaps they’ve always behaved that way, and it’s normality that’s at fault.
And the king of the land confers with his best friend, who happens to be his closest advisor, who also happens to be a talking cat. But that’s all perfectly natural and not at all weird.
And when chief architect Iona wakes from a long period of blindly accepting the status quo, she realizes there’s a mystery to be solved. A strange, somewhat bizarre mystery, to be sure, but no less dangerous for its improbability.
And the cat is almost certainly involved!

How does a book featuring a king with a talking cat turn into science fiction?

I’m not telling!

But I will say this: Hearts of Oak is all sorts of awesome, and was exactly the sort of punchy, engaging read I needed this week.

The setting is weird and perplexing. We’re in a city where everything seems to be made of wood, and the entire focus of the city is building. Architects are practically rock stars, and the only city functions that seem to matter are building and planning.

And then there’s the king (and his cat Clarence), who observe the growth of the city from their window in the king’s tower, reading daily reports and signing off on plans, but really not doing much of anything else.

Everything seems to change when chief architect Iona is approached by a woman asking to be tutored in architecture. Something about Alyssa seems off, and her presence starts to bring forward words and images that Iona associates with her odd, recurring dreams.

And I’m not going to say what happens next! There are plenty of cool twists, and I actually laughed out loud over certain developments — like, OH, so THAT’s where this is going!

Seriously, this book just needs to be read! It’s great fun, full of surprises and really amazing and inventive elements, and I just could not put it down. I can see returning to Hearts of Oak and reading it again from time to time — it’s that good!

And a final great thing — it’s worth taking a closer look at the cover! I love the detail!

18Mar2020

Audiobook Review: Becoming by Michelle Obama

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Becoming
Author: Michelle Obama
Narrator: Michelle Obama
Publisher: Crown
Publication date: November 13, 2018
Print length: 426 pages
Audio length: 19 hours, 3 minutes
Genre: Memoir
Source: Purchased
Rating:

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

I grew up with a disabled dad in a too-small house with not much money in a starting-to-fail neighborhood, and I also grew up surrounded by love and music in a diverse city in a country where an education can take you far. I had nothing or I had everything. It depends on which way you want to tell it.

Michelle Obama tells it all beautifully. In this powerful memoir, our former First Lady narrates her life with grace, dignity, and intelligence, from her childhood in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago to her life in the White House. It’s quite a journey, and by listening to the audiobook, I was able to hear the author’s own voice, and it was amazing.

There’s so much to love about this book. Michelle Obama is plain spoken as she shares her love for her family, talking about her parents, brother, and extended family, their challenges and their optimism, their dedication to making sure that no doors would be closed to them.

I really didn’t know much about her background prior to reading Becoming, and found myself impressed over and over again while hearing about her early education, her determination, and her hard work, as well as her devotion to the friends she met along the way.

The early stages of her romance with Barack Obama are simply charming, and I appreciated her no-nonsense approach to their story, getting across their mutual love and respect while also giving a sense of their challenges and where they differ as people.

Hearing more about the campaign trail and life in the White House was also fascinating, and I couldn’t help but admire the Obama’s commitment to raising their daughters with as normal a life as possible despite living in the ultimate fishbowl.

Becoming is a wonderful book, a moving memoir and an inspiring depiction of what two people dedicated to improving the world around them can accomplish. It also made me a little sad, missing the grace and intellect that the Obamas brought to the presidency, and made me wish for a time when doing good would mean more than political power.

Highly, highly recommended — and the audiobook experience is a treat.

18Mar2020

Shelf Control #209: Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising, #1) by Susan Cooper

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising, #1)
Author: Susan Cooper
Published: 1965
Length: 196 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

On holiday in Cornwall, the three Drew children discover an ancient map in the attic of the house that they are staying in. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that — the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril. This is the first volume of Susan Cooper’s brilliant and absorbing fantasy sequence known as The Dark Is Rising.

How and when I got it:

We’ve had a copy of this book in my house for at least 15 years or more!

Why I want to read it:

I was looking for something relatively happy and light for this week’s Shelf Control post (to contrast with how dismal and dark real life is these days…) — and while this doesn’t exactly scream sunshine and roses, it’s a classic children’s fantasy series, which sounds like lots of fun.

True confession time — I actually started this with my son about six years ago, and we quit after the first few chapters. Neither of us felt much interest at the time, but that may be because it just didn’t suit our mood or wasn’t a great pick to read aloud together. In any case, we put it aside, but I’ve always felt like I should go back to it and see it through.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:

Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
Add your link in the comments!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

17Mar2020

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for spring 2020

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is about our spring reading plans. So many great books to look forward to! Here are ten I’m especially excited for:

1) The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

2) Defy or Defend (Delightfully Deadly, #2) by Gail Carriger

3) The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey

4) Of Literature and Lattes by Katherine Reay

5) Devolution by Max Brooks

6) Beach Read by Emily Henry

7) 500 Miles From You by Jenny Colgan

8) The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

9) Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman

10) The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

What books will you be reading this spring? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

16Mar2020

The Monday Check-In ~ 3/16/2020

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

It’s hard to focus on reading and blogging when real-life feels like something out of a sci-fi novel. So while reading is always my favorite distraction, I was actually too distracted to do more than a bit of reading this week.

What did I read during the last week?

The Deep by Alma Katsu: I’d been so looking forward to this book… but unfortunately, just didn’t enjoy it very much. My review is here.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis: My book group’s pick for March — which I actually managed to finish before our discussion date! My review is here.

Pop culture — Outlander, season 5:

Hey, hey — go me! I actually watched Outlander early enough on Sunday that I was able to write up my reaction post the same day! So, here’s the latest:

Episode 505, “Perpetual Adoration” (3/15/2020) – here

And here are my posts for the earlier episodes:
Episode 504, “The Company We Keep” (aired 3/8/2020) – here.
Episode 503, “Free Will” (aired 3/1/2020) – here.
Episode 502, “Between Two Fires” (aired 2/23/2020) – here.
Episode 501, “The Fiery Cross” (aired 2/16/2020) – here.

Other TV watching:

I finished my Gilmore Girls binge! Whew. What a ride! And I have feelings about it all, which I’ll attempt to write up sometime this week. I’m going to take a little pause before watching A Year in the Life… I think I need to allow a little time to pass.

Fresh Catch:

No new books this week… unless you count the few new Kindle books I scooped up!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Hearts of Oak by Eddie Robson: Just started late Sunday — it sounds weird and wonderful, and I love the cover!

Now playing via audiobook:

Becoming by Michelle Obama: Excellent! I have just a few hours of listening left.

Ongoing reads:

The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon: The latest in Outlander Book Club’s group read-alongs. A very fun re-read.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: My book group’s newest classic read is now underway. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week.

So many books, so little time…

15Mar2020

Insta-Reaction: Outlander, Season 5, Episode 5

Posted in Outlander by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Season 5 is here! I’ll be writing an “Insta-Reaction” post for each episode soon after viewing, to share some initial thoughts, questions, reactions — you name it.

Warning:

I may be talking about events from this episode, other episodes, and/or the book series… so if you’d rather not know, now’s your chance to walk away!

Outlander, episode 505: “Perpetual Adoration”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

Jamie and his militia arrive at Hillsborough to learn that Governor Tryon has proposed a rather unorthodox solution to deal with the threat posed by the Regulators and to resolve the growing political crisis.

My take:

Major plot points:

It’s Adso, y’all! Can we just ignore the rest of the episode and focus on this adorable ball of grey fur?

No?

Okay… here’s what happened in this episode:

We spend some time with Claire back in the 1960s, after Frank’s death but before her trip to England and Scotland when she discovered that Jamie had survived Culloden. She has an encounter with a patient that has had a huge impact on her.
In the main timeline of the show, Jamie and his militia ride into Hillsborough, only to discover that the governor is pardoning all the Regulators.
Lt. Knox learns about Jamie’s past and his connection to Murtagh… and Jamie straight up murders him!
Claire performs tonsil surgery on the Beardsley twins, after discovering that she’d finally made penicillin.
Bree and Roger have some trouble over Bonnet, but they work it out.
Jamie comes back to the Ridge WITH ADSO. So he and Claire can have the cutest reunion ever.

Insta-reaction:

Okay, I just need to say this.

JAMIE FRASER IS NOT A MURDERER.

Maybe the show thought it was adding intrigue and tension, but I do not for a minute believe that MY Jamie would have murdered Lt. Knox like that. He might have tried to get the papers from him, or mislead him, or do something sly to throw him off his track, but Jamie has too much honor to behave as he did in this episode.

Ugh.

Here’s where keeping Murtagh alive (instead of having him die at Culloden, as he did in the books) is starting to backfire. Once Murtagh showed up as the leader of the Regulators, I knew this could not be good for the story. Sure, it’s dramatic having godfather and godson on opposite sides, but it felt like a reinvention of Murtagh’s character to me, and is leading to Jamie acting in ways that Jamie never would. I’m more than annoyed by this turn of events. And then Jamie goes back to the Ridge and is all smiles and happiness when he sees Claire — no soul-searching or tormenting himself over the sin he just committed? This is not working for me. At all.

But other than that…

I pretty much liked Claire’s storylines in this episode — her ruminations on the nature of time, and how all things connect. How if she hadn’t encountered her Scottish patient, Graham Menzies, and then ended up taking a leave of absence after his death, her path would not have intersected with Roger’s, and she might never have made her way back to Jamie again. And the ripples go on from there — Bree and Roger wouldn’t have met, Bree might never have learned the truth about her father, and she and Jamie would never have had the opportunity to know one another and form a relationship.

Marsali is so full of win on this show. Her adorableness over the penicillin was superb. The surgery scene was gross but great, and I think Lizzie’s face was probably all of us at the moment when Kezzy was wide awake and Claire was cauterizing his throat.

Can we just ignore the whole Regulator storyline? Basically, the governor is going to pardon all the Regulators except Murtagh, who is public enemy #1 and must be caught and hanged for treason. Great. And then there’s the Ardsmuir business and the murdering business, and I just get mad again.

On the home front, Roger and Bree get cuddly, but later fight when he finds the gemstone Bonnet gave to Bree at the jail and learns that a) Bonnet is alive and b) Brianna told Bonnet that the baby she was carrying was his. And how dare she, when she’s never said as much to Roger? I think Roger was a bit of a jerk here, to be honest. He’s not the victim! Eventually, they make up, and Roger talks again about going back to their own time, once they figure out if Jemmy can time travel. Which is not a bad idea — because let’s be real, they’re really not safe where they are.

So yeah, I’ll stop talking about how pissed off I was by the end of the episode and just focus on what’s important, i.e., all the cuteness of Adso.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

Why, show, why did you do this to Jamie? I don’t like what this might mean for the plot going forward, and I don’t believe that good, honorable Jamie would behave the way he did in this episode.

So, all the cuteness and Claire’s medical victory and the glimpses of the past/future are pretty much overshadowed for me by the murder.

Although I did really dig seeing mod 60s Dr. Claire again!

And three cheers for The Impetuous Pirate!

Save

15Mar2020

Book Review: The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt
Author: Andrea Bobotis
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication date: July 9, 2019
Length: 311 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Some bury their secrets close to home. Others scatter them to the wind and hope they land somewhere far away.
Judith Kratt inherited all the Kratt family had to offer—the pie safe, the copper clock, the murder no one talks about. She knows it’s high time to make an inventory of her household and its valuables, but she finds that cataloging the family belongings—as well as their misfortunes—won’t contain her family’s secrets, not when her wayward sister suddenly returns, determined to expose skeletons the Kratts had hoped to take to their graves.
Interweaving the present with chilling flashbacks from one fateful evening in 1929, Judith pieces together the influence of her family on their small South Carolina cotton town, learning that the devastating effects of dark family secrets can last a lifetime and beyond.

Miss Judith Kratt has lived in the imposing family home in Bound, South Carolina all her life. Now in her mid-70s, she lives contentedly with Olva — an African American woman who seems to be both servant and companion, the two women having spent their entire lives together. Judith has the idea to start an inventory of the house’s objects, all of which seem to hold a piece of the family history.

The Kratt family rose from nothing with Judith’s father, a bully of a man who strong-armed and cheated his way into a fortune in the cotton and mercantile business. He ruled his family and his town with an iron fist, inspiring fear and obedience whever he went.

In alternating chapters, we visit Judith’s memories of her teen years, going back to the fateful year of 1929 when her family’s fortunes changed dramatically.

Meanwhile, in the present of 1989, a local man and his six-year-old daughter take shelter in the Kratt home after being pursued by the grandson of Daddy Kratt’s former business partner. We see the cycles of hate and violence being carried through the generations, as the descendants of the grown-ups from Judith’s childhood still carry their forefathers’ handed-down grudges.

Judith seems odd and standoffish at first, but the more we learn about her childhood, the more her strange life starts to make sense. There are powerful family secrets buried in her and Olva’s pasts, and these secrets are still weighty enough to change lives all these years later.

As Judith makes her inventory, we come to understand the meaning of all the difference objects in her house, and how they relate to the family tragedy. It’s a clever and strangely moving approach to showing the weight of memories, and how those can add up to an entire life defined by the past.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt isn’t exactly what I expected, especially based on the book cover (which was what originally caught my eye). The image made me expect a work of historical fiction, maybe 1950s era or thereabouts, about Southern belles and their families. That’s not this book at all, though.

Instead, The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is about a 15-year-old girl and the older woman she becomes, and the family secrets that shadow her entire life. This book is my book group’s pick for March, and I can wait to hear what everyone else thought and to pick apart the tangled web of secrets with them. Definitely a recommended read!