The Overbooked Bibliophile

Audio Narration : 4⭐ Plot: 2.5⭐ Librarian Chloe Sampson has a lot on her plate. Legal guardian to her three younger siblings ever since their mother abandoned them, she juggles her job at the local library and her responsibilities at home. When she discovers a rare edition of an old book while clearing out the library basement, she decides to sell it for a decent price, hoping that the sale will temporarily ease her financial woes. The book in question has handwritten notes written in the margin – notes indicating a romantic relationship between two book-loving people ( “J” an “C”). When her grumpy elderly neighbor Jasper Holmes offers to buy the book for a handsome price Chloe begins to put two and two together and begins to search for more books in the library with similar messages on the pages. As the narrative progresses, Chloe’s quest marks the beginning of an unlikely friendship with Jasper, who helps her when she is at her wit’s end. We follow Chloe as her deep dive into the eve...

  Rating:  3.5⭐ Set in contemporary China,  The Funeral Cryer  by  Wenyan Lu  is a thought-provoking novel. Our protagonist is a middle-aged woman who makes a living as a professional mourner – a profession she has been engaged in for ten years. With her husband unemployed, hers is their only income. Though enjoys the financial security her profession affords her, most of the villagers tend to avoid her as they believe that she brings bad luck and “smells of the dead”- a sentiment echoed by her husband who eagerly pockets her earnings, spending a substantial portion of same playing mahjong. He is disrespectful of his wife and emotionally abusive and it is hinted that he might be having an affair. Their grown daughter lives in Shanghai and from what we gather, she keeps her distance. The only person who shows the Funeral Cryer any kindness is the barber of their village. Narrated in the first person by our protagonist, the tone of this novel is quiet and a t...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐ With varied themes and interesting characters,  The Book of Witty Women  features an interesting mix of fifteen short stories written by women writers. Given the title and description of this anthology, I was hoping for a light-hearted read, but unfortunately, “laugh-out-loud” funny or “witty” it was not. I won’t be sharing individual ratings for the fifteen stories in this anthology like I usually do in my other reviews, simply because I have mixed feelings about most of them (arising from my preconceived notions for which I blame the title and the description, once again) and had I not been expecting a stronger element of wit or humor, this anthology would have garnered a higher rating. As with most anthologies, I did like some more than others.  Double Date  by  Lucy Vine ,  Care Home Capers  by  Wendy Hood  and  Go Your Own Way  by  Kimberley Adams  were entertaining reads and I was mildly amused by a few ot...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ *Many thanks to Pantheon Books for the gifted copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This book was published on April 02, 2024.* Set in 1943,  Victory Parade  by  Leela Corman  is a brutal yet profoundly moving meditation on the horrors of war and trauma, the challenges faced by the women who contributed to the WWII effort back home while they waited for their men to return from the war front, Jewish refugees fleeing persecution and the physical and psychological scars left on those returning from home. The narrative, presented in vivid watercolor, follows the cast of characters among whom are Rose, a married woman employed as a welder in Brooklyn who is involved in a relationship with a disabled veteran; Ruth, a German Jewish refugee taken in by Rose who finds a violent outlet to vent the simmering rage she harbors; and Sam, Rose’s husband who returns home destined to be haunted by visions of what he witnessed in the liberated concentra...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐ As the novel begins, we meet newlyweds April & Eddie in 1995 en route to their honeymoon destination near Lake Michigan. They realize they have lost their way when they find themselves on a deserted stretch of road where they encounter a grievously injured hitchhiker, Rhonda Jean, whom they rush to the nearest hospital. Tragically, the young woman succumbs to her injuries and the police deem them persons of interest. It is revealed that Rhonda Jean’s death was not an isolated incident and several hitchhikers had been killed on Atticus Line in separate incidents over the last twenty years. Forced to stay back in Coldlake Falls as the local authorities investigate, Eddie and April embark on their own investigation into the town and the murders in an effort to clear their name. I was intrigued by the premise  The Murder Road  by  Simone St. James . Atmospheric and suspenseful, this novel had a lot to offer. The paranormal element was interesting ( I don’t dabb...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Meticulously researched, vividly descriptive and beautifully written,  The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of the Northern Sámi  by  Elin Anna Labba  (translated by  Fiona Graham ) is a powerful read. The award-winning author, whose grandparents were among the  sirdolaččat  (“the displaced”) paints an intimate portrait of the  Bággojohtin ,-the forced displacement of the Indigenous Sámi community between 1919 to the 1930s. The author states that approximately three hundred people were displaced during this period and the displacements continued even until the 1950s in Sweden as people were moved from one herding community to another. “One of the most frequently quoted Sámi proverbs says that the downy birch doesn't break in two; It merely bends. You bear your hurt alone, for breaking down want to make your daily life any easier. Your tears should fall unseen on your shawl. The philosophy of life revolves around the...

  Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ I t has been twenty-five years since Jessica, Norah, and Alicia left Port Agatha and Wild Meadows. the farming estate that had been their home where they lived under the care of their cruel and manipulative foster mother, Miss Fairchild. Their memories of those years are far from happy ones and though they are no longer the scared teenagers they were when they reported Miss Fairchild to the authorities all those years ago, their experiences have left an indelible imprint on their lives. But they had each other and together, they endured and survived their ordeal. Though not related by blood, they consider themselves sisters, and their love and unwavering support for one another has only grown stronger over the years. When a body is discovered under the farmhouse, the ensuing investigation draws the sisters back to Port Agatha, where they are forced to revisit their past and the memories that have haunted them. I thoroughly enjoyed  Darling Girls  by  Sa...

  Rating: 4.5⭐ Nelson “Nails” McKenna has been working as an enforcer for the local crime boss Gareth Burroughs on Bull Mountain, Georgia, for almost a decade ever since he was sixteen years old. His initiation with the Burroughs clan was a result of a particularly violent episode that resulted in the grievous injury of a young man in Burrough’s employ. Loyal to a fault, he follows orders and is trusted by his employer. Despite his apparent toughness, he is a loner with an unhappy childhood behind him. When Nelson encounters Dallas one night at the local pub, he is immediately drawn to her and in a shocking turn of events he ends up killing a man who was abusing her with a room full of witnesses. Nelson’s boss instructs him to go to Jacksonville, Florida, where it is assumed that arrangements are being made for his escape from the law. When Clayton, Nelson’s childhood friend and Gareth's son who is not involved in his father’s criminal dealings, finds out that things aren't as ...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ " Really, who would care about a family like theirs? Theirs were ordinary human failings, tragedies too routine to be of note.” Ordinary Human Failings   by  Megan Nolan   is an evocative character-driven novel that revolves around an Irish immigrant family in a public housing estate in 1990s London. The novel follows the members of the Green family after ten-year-old Lucy Green is suspected of being responsible for the death of three-year-old Mia Enright. Ten years ago, Lucy’s family – her grandmother Rose who was the only person who displayed any affection toward Lucy and has since passed on; her reclusive grandfather John; her alcoholic uncle Ritchie; and her then pregnant teenage mother Carmel who is distant and never shown any concern for her daughter- relocated to London to avoid scandal. Lucy, who is described as having behavioral issues, is taken into custody and her family is subject to scrutiny from their neighbors, the press and law enforcement. Th...

  Rating:  4.5⭐ The fifth installment of the acclaimed  Hawthorne & Horowitz  series follows Anthony Horowitz (the fictionalized version of the author) as he revisits one of Hawthorne’s older cases from five years ago – to be featured in his next book. When one of the residents of Riverview Close, an affluent gated community comprising six houses, is murdered with a crossbow bolt, local law enforcement calls in former Detective Inspector Anthony Hawthorne to assist. The deceased, Giles Kenworthy, who only recently moved into the community with his family was despised by all of his neighbors and it was evident that none of them were particularly grief-stricken by the tragic turn of events. It was also clear to the lead investigator Detective Superintendent Tariq Khan, Hawthorne and his then-partner John Dudley that the residents knew more about the murder than they were letting on and finding the truth was going to be more complicated than any of them had anticipa...

  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Maybe in a millennium, if the human race is still around, they might look back at this time and wonder how people could be so. . .cruel and wrong.” Set in 1968 Freeman County, Virginia  A Calamity of Souls  by  David Baldacci  revolves around a racially charged murder case and the lawyers representing the young Black man, a Vietnam War veteran, accused of murdering the affluent white couple who were his employers. Representing Jerome Washington is criminal defense attorney, thirty-three-year-old John Robert “Jack” Lee, a White man and resident of Freeman County. Jack, despite being brought up to be respectful of everyone irrespective of the color of their skin or social class, has never done anything to raise his voice against racial discrimination and believes that this would be his chance to do the right thing – not an easy decision given the instant backlash he faces from his own community- both on the professional and personal front- and the...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐ “The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.” The Women   by  Kristin Hannah   follows twenty-one-year-old Frances “Frankie” Grace McGrath, a sheltered young woman from an affluent family, who enlisted as a nurse during the Vietnam War. The narrative follows Frankie through the years of the war and the decades that follow. There is a lot to like about this novel. The author writes with compassion and the narrative flows well. The fact that the author wanted to tell the story of the women who served in the Vietnam War, giving those whose contributions have been ignored a voice, renders this novel remarkable in its scope and intention. I loved how the author describes the camaraderie between friends and colleagues, their support for one another, the resilience, compassion and bravery of the women who served and the sacrifices they made. I also liked how the autho...

  Rating:  4.5⭐️ Set in St. Helier, Jersey, during the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands  The Wartime Book Club  by  Kate Thompson  is a remarkable work of historical fiction. The title of this novel suggests that the story revolves around the power of books and reading in bringing people together during difficult times but I should mention that though these themes do constitute an important part of the narrative, this book is about so much more. As WWII rages on, thousands of islanders evacuate before the Nazi invasion of the Channel Islands in 1940. Among those who stay behind are best friends, Grace La Mottée, who works as a librarian at the Bibliothèque Publique and her best friend postwoman Bea Gold. The narrative jumps to 1943, a few years into the occupation and the Nazis have wreaked havoc in the lives of the islanders with curfews and persecution, rationing and censorship among other evils. Grace, now the acting Chief Librarian after her colle...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ I thoroughly enjoyed this short story featuring three retired professors who meet weekly to reminisce about their lives and careers over cheese and their beverage of choice. Their discussions turn to the topic of one of their common friends, Fern, a writer who was targeted in a coordinated effort instigated by a fellow writer to ruin her literary career years ago. The friends believe that this incident created a situation that exacerbated exacerbated her declining health. We follow them as they go about devising a plan to avenge their friend (who is unaware of their intentions). As they weigh their options with meticulous precision, it soon becomes evident that framing and executing a foolproof plan might prove to be a tad more complicated than they had anticipated. Touching upon themes of aging, friendship, loyalty, revenge and professional jealousy  Cut and Thirst  by  Margaret Atwood , is a quick entertaining read. I loved the banter between the friends (st...

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ Shelley Woodhouse wakes up from a coma with injuries she claims to have sustained after a violent confrontation with her husband. With only Dee, her friend and coworker from the pub Shelley runs, and a kind hospital volunteer named Matt as her only outside visitors, she doesn’t have much input into what is going on outside her hospital room. She is surprised that the police haven't approached her for a statement and the hospital staff and Dee aren't giving straight answers to her probing questions. Despite her conviction about the events that led to her hospitalization, she senses that something is off, compounded by flashes of memories that seem unreal to her. As the narrative progresses, we follow Shelley as she tries to reclaim her memories and fill in the blank spaces, embarking on a journey of hope and healing in order to move forward. The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up   by  Laura Pearson   is a well-written novel that delves into the issue of domestic vi...