The Overbooked Bibliophile

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ Twenty-year-old Charlotte Richmond, daughter of a high-ranking government official, belongs to an affluent family but now lives on the other side of London, as a boarder (the reasons for which are revealed later in the novel). She mourns the loss of her brother who died on the front. She works as a typist in the Ministry of Information and spends her free time checking up on her friends and colleagues, though doing so is becoming increasingly difficult on account of the restriction imposed as the war rages on. She meets Tom Hawthorne, a young man who she notices daily feeding the birds in the park and befriends him. Tom, unable to serve on the front due to his physical limitations, works with his father in their family’s undertaking business and is waiting to start classes at the University to pursue higher education that he feels will enable him to strike out on his own. The sudden deaths of people close to her raise Charlotte’s suspicions and she feels that she is bein...

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ A young man with a gun walks into a department store and begins shooting. Detective Elise Sutton, a cold case detective, buying towels for her daughters, hears the shots and witnesses the shooter aiming his weapon at a tall man and is compelled to take him down. With several eyewitness accounts corroborating Elise’s role in saving the lives of those present in the store on that day, the police have no doubts that Elise’s actions were justified. Her heroic act earns her accolades and recognition but Elise is consumed by guilt for taking the life of a young man. Traumatized she hopes that the testimony man whose life she saved will help her justify her actions to herself. But he seems to have disappeared without giving testimony. But when Elise finally meets the man, Wade Austin , the meeting does not end as Elise would have expected. The man in question becomes obsessed with Elise, following her every movement, threatening her safety as well as that of her family, leaving...

My Rating:  3.5⭐️ The once-bustling Greenways Mall in Upstate New York now houses several shuttered businesses and is about to close its doors for good. As the story begins, we meet Tina Huang, Asian American single mother, once an aspiring artist and is now a hairstylist at Sunshine Clips, a salon operating in the mall. Her nine-year-old son Jackson spends his time after school in the salon. He dreams of becoming a magician and avidly follows videos of famous magicians to learn about the craft. One of Tina’s regular customers is the elderly Ro Goodson, a widow who lives alone and who is kind to Tina and Jackson. Ro isn’t quite liked by her neighbors for her aloof yet judgmental attitude. Among her neighbors is Kevin, an employee at the mall bookstore. Kevin is in a mixed-race marriage to Grace, an academic and poet. Once an aspiring academic, Kevin is struggling to complete his dissertation. Parents to twins, their financial struggles have resulted in them moving into a Tiny Home ...

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ I first read Paul Gallico only recently when I picked up the expanded version of his story  The Snow Goose  which I absolutely loved! My decision to read this book was guided by the fact that I prefer to read the book before watching the movie. These stories are delightful and heart-warming, full of charming characters and enjoyable plotlines full of heart and humor. Originally written in the  1950s-60s, these stories are timeless in their appeal. The first story,  Mrs Harris Goes to Paris  revolves around Mrs. Ada Harris, a sixty-ish London charwoman, as she embarks on a quest to purchase a Dior dress after she is enamored with one she sees in a client’s cupboard. The story follows Mrs. Harris’s efforts to scrimp and save for almost three years and then embark on her trip to Paris, where she meets several interesting characters. A thoroughly enjoyable read! In the second story,  Mrs Harris Goes to New York  , we catch up with Mrs. Harri...

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The archipelago of Prospera is a utopian state separate from the rest of the world and its man-made “horrors”. Hidden from the world by an electromagnetic barrier, Prospera is spread across three islands. The main island, Prospera proper, is home to the Prosperans, humans of high potential (a result of “genetic tinkering”), who live long productive lives, toward the end of which (when their health and well-being percentage, measured by monitors embedded in their arms, falls below 10) they are retired and ferried across to the third island, ”The Nursery” where they are prepared for their new iteration, new bodies and minds to be returned to Prospera as teenagers (“wards”) to be adopted by families on the main island. The second island, the Annex, is home to support staff who live normal lives and constitute the labor force, engaged in the upkeep of the main island. Our protagonist, the “Ferryman” Proctor Bennet, Managing Director of the Department of Social Contracts, is...

My Rating:  4.5⭐️ On the night of December 26, 1811, the Charleston-based Placide & Green Company was performing two full-length productions at the Richmond Theater to a packed house (almost six hundred people). A fire broke out during the performance that led to the loss of over seventy lives including the Governor. This novel is inspired by that tragedy. The narrative follows the events of the night and its aftermath as is shared through multiple perspectives- those whose lives are irrevocably impacted by the tragic events of that fateful night - Jack Gibson, a young stagehand who is aware of what truly happened on that fateful evening; Sally Henry, a young widow who attended the production with her sister and brother -in-law, and who participates in the effort to care for those injured in the fire; Gilbert Hunt, a Black man hoping to purchase his freedom someday,   who actively helped those trapped in the burning building and Cecily Patterson, a young black girl wh...

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “There is a kind of sadness that transcends sadness, that runs like hot syrup into every crevice of your being, beginning in the heart then oozing into your very cells and bloodstream, so that nothing— not earth or sky or even your own palm— ever looks the same. This is the sadness that changes everything.” In 1948, a chance meeting between seventeen-year-old Victoria “Torie” Nash meets a young man by the name of Wilson “Wil” Moon, a drifter of Native American descent triggers a sequence of events that changes Victoria's life forever. Victoria, the only female in her household, since her mother perished in a tragic car accident when she was twelve, was responsible for taking care of the household while her father and other men of the family and those in their employ worked their family’s peach farm in Iola, Colorado. Victoria is lonely and Wilson is kind and caring and makes her happy. She keeps her relationship with Wilson secret for good reason. But in a tragic tu...

               My Rating : 4.5⭐ ( Book); 5⭐( Audiobook) “You won’t believe what women can do. These women- their mistake was in thinking they burned with their own unique rage. Something deeper, darker than what the rest of us feel. Let me tell you- inside we all rage the same. It’s how we let it out that differs.”  Diana Diosmary “Dios” Sandoval and Florence “Florida” Baum are inmates in a women’s correctional facility in Arizona.  As the pandemic rages on, both of their sentences are commuted and they are released on parole. Florida and Dios have a history – something that ties them to a violent event in the prison and Dios has knowledge of secrets about Florida’s arrest and her actual role in the crime that landed her in prison – secrets that Florida is desperate to protect. Dios holds this knowledge over Florida’s head and is fixated on proving that Florida, who comes from an affluent background and hopes to leave her time...

My Rating:3.5⭐ Set in an alternate version of Edwardian England, the plot of author E.B. Roshan’s novella revolves around sisters Opal and Gem Morris. Daughters of an eminent botanist, who has since passed on, they are immensely proud of their conservatory, which houses rare specimens and an enviable collection of orchids. Opal is dedicated to the care of the conservatory and takes pains to see it is not neglected. Gem is a free spirit and is more social. When Opal hears of a fresh batch of rare orchids collected by Leonidas ”Ned” Ardmore from Assam, India she is eager to purchase a few samples, which she does even though Ned’s uncle Sir Richard, who financed the trip and expects first dibs on the same, is annoyed which leads to a confrontation between him and his nephew. Complicating matters further is that Gem is romantically involved with Ned’s younger brother and is unhappy with the friction between the two families. In a shocking turn of events, The Morris Conservatory is broken i...

My Rating: 3.5⭐️  Twenty-seven-year-old Sloane Parker is a librarian at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, a place she considers a haven and where she feels most at home. She is engaged to be married to a chiropractor and is more or less content with the way her life is going, unwilling to rock the boat though she does carry much sorrow in her heart over the loss of a loved one from her childhood. In the course of her work, she meets the curmudgeonly Arthur McLachlan, a regular patron at the library whose cantankerous demeanor has most of the staff running for cover when he makes his entrance. Sloane and Arthur engage in heated exchanges and trade insults regularly – a kind of ritual for them Sloane gets used to and enjoys. When Arthur suddenly stops showing up at the library, Sloane decides to go check on him and discovers him recuperating at home after a medical emergency. Her unauthorized home visit with Arthur earns her a reprimand at work, but Sloane does not stop going out of ...

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ Inspired by true events,  To Dream of Shadows  by  Steve N Lee  is a heart-wrenching yet powerful novel. We meet eighteen-year-old Inge Zaleska, packed into a cattle car with her family and other Jews on their way to being “resettled”. On reaching their destination, she is separated from her family and sent to a Nazi labor camp in Estonia. Alone, she has to learn to fend for herself and endure the filth, starvation, back-breaking work and horrific living conditions not to mention the cruelty of the SS Officers and the kapos in charge of the barracks. In a turn of events, she is eventually transferred to a different camp where she meets Nazi Commandant, SS Oberscharfuhrer Heinz Rudolf “Rudi”, Krusewho has only recently assumed charge of the camp. Rudi is portrayed as a compassionate character and as he observes the Jews in captivity and bears witness to the cruelty meted out to them by his fellow SS officers, he begins to question the beliefs that have ...

My Rating :4.6⭐ Emergency  by  Kathleen Alcott  is an exceptionally well-written collection of seven short stories that revolve around themes of marriage and relationships, friendship, regret, conscience and guilt, poverty and addiction, and ambition and compromise to name a few. The title story, “Emergency” (4/5) revolves around a woman whose life post her divorce creates a ripple in her former circle of acquaintances. In “Worship” (4.5/5) we meet a woman who moves halfway across the country only to discover that there was a lot she did know about the man with whom she was about to begin a new life. A woman finds a photograph of her late mother in a compromising position on display in a museum exhibit that compels her to reflect on her own life and choices in Natural Light (5/5). “A World Without Men” (5/5) follows a couple, married for over forty years, as they are forced to take stock of their relationship while forced to shelter in place during the pandemic. In “Part ...

My Rating: 4.5⭐ “War sharply changes ways of seeing, changes feelings. Above all, it immediately changes the weight of a great many things, things that seemed necessary and obvious just a day ago.”  -From the Introduction by the author, Sky above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front   comprises a series of social media posts written by Ukrainian writer-activist  Serhiy Zhadan   (translated from the original Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler) through which he documents the first four months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Reminds me of the Second World War. I’m referring to the occupiers’ ideology and moral imperative, first and foremost. They’ve come here to liberate us from us. They don’t even have a compelling narrative for those with weak stomachs. They simply want to destroy us, just in case, just because.”  (excerpt from author’s post on March 2, 2022) Origina...

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.75⭐️ rounded up)  “People always say that your wedding day is the happiest day of your life, but honestly, people should try solving murders more often.” Sixty-year-old Vera Wong Zhuzhu owns and runs Vera Wang’s World- Famous Teahouse in San Francisco. Widowed, she lives alone on the floor above her tea shop and constantly keeps tabs on her adult son Tilly, checking in with him often through phone messages. Vera leads a disciplined life, wakes up early every morning and goes about her business. Unfortunately, her tea shop isn’t doing too well, but that does not deter her diligence or devotion to her business. One morning, she wakes up to discover a dead body in her shop. Vera does notify law enforcement but not before she, given the “helpful and resourceful” person that she is, prepares the crime scene which involves outlining the body just like she has seen on television, much to the annoyance of the police officers who are assigned to the case. The deceased is ...

My Rating: 3.75⭐ In 1940 as WWII rages on, London-based Reginald and Millie Thompson decide to send their daughter, eleven-year-old Beatrix to the United States, where she is placed under the care of Ethan and Nancy Gregory , a lovely couple who welcome her into their home and their hearts. She spends her time divided between Gregory home in Boston and their vacation home in Maine with their two school-going sons, William and Gerald, both of whom befriend Beatrix. Beatrix’s parents miss her dearly only deriving comfort from the fact that she is out of harm’s way. Millie , in particular fears that the geographical distance and her daughter’s growing emotional attachment to the Gregory family and the comfortable lifestyle in the US (as is shared through letters to her mother) will widen the chasm between her and her family in London. Five years later, the war is over and Beatrix returns to London, torn between her love for the Gregory family and the home calling her back, albeit with the...

  My Rating:  3.5⭐ A corporate team building retreat in the Giralang Ranges ends with one of the hikers of a group of ten (teams divided into one of five women and another of five men) missing. None of the other hikers seem to know what happened to Alice Russell. Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk and his colleague Carmen Cooper had been involved in an investigation of Alice’s employer Bailey Tennants for financial fraud. Alice had been their contact person who had yet to provide them with the “contracts” that would implicate her employees. Aaron had received a missed call from Alice while she was on her hike with a barely intelligible voicemail that compounds Aron’s suspicions that there was more to her disappearance than Alice simply losing her way and getting separated from her group. Over twenty years ago, the Giralang wilderness was hunting grounds for a serial killer who had since been caught and incarcerated. Could there be a copycat? Does Alice’s disappearance have...

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ It’s the month of July and tourism season is thriving on the island of Ischia, eighteen miles off the coast of Naples. But two separate crimes create a stir in the community and local law enforcement will have their hands full. . Arianna Conte, one of the guests at The Grand Hotel Excelsior accuses one of the cleaning staff, a local girl, of stealing a valuable necklace. In addition to the case of the the missing necklace, the discovery of the body of the unidentified woman of the side of the curved road in Barano has the carabinieri scrambling to find out who and/or what caused her death. A lifelong islander in her seventies with a penchant for solving crimes to assist those who require her help (she knows everyone on the island and keeps a tab on what is happening around her through her vast network of personal contacts),Nonna Maria is known for her wisdom and her network of personal contacts. Paolo Murino, the Carabinieri captain trusts and respects her and they often...