"Within These Walls" by Ania Ahlborn

I received a copy of "Within These Walls" by Ania Ahlborn in exchange for a fair review.  As often happens when reviewing a book that I did not choose for myself, I had very conflicted feelings after reading this effort.  The book is well written with a tight story, intriguing characters, and often vivid imagery.  I could feel the angst, confusion, and fear in the characters as the story progressed.

So why the conflict?  Despite all the compliments above, and considering I can't find a single negative thing to say (rare for me), I just did not enjoy reading this book, had a hard time finishing it, and found myself struggling to write this review.  I always promise a fair review and have to offer my earlier praise, but something just didn't click for me on this one.  I know that sounds strange and I wish I could explain it better.  Has anyone else ever experienced this?

"Those Girls" by Chevy Stevens

I received a copy of "Those Girls" by Chevy Stevens through the Goodreads First Reads program.  This novel is written in two parts and my opinion of each differs greatly.  

The first section deals with the lives of three sisters from a terribly abusive home.  The abuse becomes critical one evening and leads to an event that sends their lives spinning out of control.  I could not stop reading through the first half of the book.  The terrifying narrative has no holes, is full of suspense, and has well developed, plausible characters.

The second half of the book was a struggle for me.  I strongly disagree with the author's decision to change the narrator to a completely new character, and was unable to overcome my dislike of the new point of view.  The characters that were so well developed in the early stages of the book suddenly lapsed into caricatures of their former selves.  The second half plot was serviceable, but nowhere near the gripping first half.  I rate this between a 3.5 and 4.0 on a five point scale.

"Summer Secrets" by Jane Green

"Summer Secrets" by Jane Green was the latest review book in my stack, although I cannot recall if it came directly through the publisher or through Goodreads.  In any case, this was a book I did not anticipate enjoying - the blurb on the back led me to believe I was about to sit down with a chick-lit, beach fluffy, finished in two hours type book.  Not the case.  While parts exist that I could have done without, this was mostly a nice surprise.  What makes this worth recommending is the main character's struggle with alcoholism.  Green does an especially insightful job illustrating the immediate and long-lasting damage done by alcoholics to themselves and to their families.  Several nice plot twists tie everything together until the end, which I found too sappy, predictable and unrealistic.  Overall, this one is worth the read.

“Beneath The Bonfire” by Nickolas Butler

“Beneath The Bonfire” by Nickolas Butler is the best collection of short stories I have read since Robin Black’s “If I Loved You I Would Tell You This.”  Every story has power and depth, well-developed characters that elicit strong emotions and descriptive settings that made me desperately homesick for my native Wisconsin.  Each story features characters struggling with some major issue, and I like that several don’t end well or have satisfying conclusions.  My favorite was “Sweet Light Crude” with “Train People Move Slow” a close second.  Oddly I found the title story by far the weakest in the collection, although still a good read.  The highest praise I can give any author is what I offer here – I want to read his first novel and I can’t wait to see what he gives us next! 

"A Curious Mind" by Brian Grazer

I received a copy of "A Curious Mind" by Brian Grazer, through the Goodreads First Reads program.  This was a three hour read but well worth the time.  Based on the premise that curiosity is both an undervalued trait and a key to his personal success, Grazer details his personal history of "curiosity conversations" with famous and/or important people and briefly explains lessons he learned from a select few of these folks.  Very well written, I assume mostly by co-author Charles Fishman, the book is essentially a collection of interesting stories mixed with Grazer's self-help advice.  I found the book light-hearted and fun, and certainly worth the time and effort.  Most importantly, Grazer makes me want to better exercise my curiosity by approaching and meeting new a different people.  In that sense the book is a complete success.  One personal footnote regarding his list of conversations at the end of the book - it contains few literary figures.  Plenty of magazine, newspaper and academic authors, but very light on the heavyweights of modern literature.

"Course Correction" by Ginny Gilder

I received "Course Correction" by Ginny Gilder through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.  I love history, sports, legal issues, etc., and so was intrigued by this book.  On the positive side, I found the rowing details fascinating, as well as the general Title IX equality struggles.  The high points are those involving her parents and their family problems - something to which we can all relate.  Very moving stuff.  Unfortunately the book contains far too much amateur psychology and too many rah-rah self-help platitudes for my taste.  I also think the author glosses over her end-of-the-book life choice considering how many others it likely effected.  Good for her that she made the choice, just treat it with the gravity it deserved.  In the end  the book was a bit of a disappointment, but probably still worth the read.

"Among the Ten Thousand Things"

"Among the Ten Thousand Things" by Julia Pierpont is an excellent debut novel that hit very close to home for me.  The author gets our attention with a shocking opener, but we very quickly learn that this is a book about family dynamics and a family coming apart.  Yes, there are plenty of "coming of age" moments, but Pierpont offers so much more in her study of how individuals deal with the pain of loss and separation.  Despite the shouting efforts of a previous reviewer to alter it, I believe the disjointed timeline presentation is brilliant and is inteneded to effect the way we read the remainder of the book.  Don't mess with the order - it's perfect.  Thank you for the Goodreads Firstreads book - certainly one of my recent favorites.