Fiction – Carol's Notebook

The Antiquity Affair by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne

May 30, 2023May 30, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

The Antiquity Affair is a fun book. It's got history, action, suspense, family drama, and a bit of romance. Our main characters, sisters Lila and Tess, are wrapped up in a race for the Serpent’s Crown, a powerful legendary relic. They have friends and family on their side but of course, there's an evil brotherhood that also wants the crown so they can control Egypt and then, presumably, the world. I liked Lila and Tess and how they come to understand each other better throughout the book and work on repairing their relationship. Each of the women is capable in her own way and their skills play off each other's well. I listened to the audiobook and having two narrators, one for each of the women, worked out well. I do wish their voices had been a little more different. The book touches on women's place in society and the questionable ethics of removing historical artifacts from their countries of...

The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill

January 26, 2023February 9, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

The Motion Picture Teller is an odd book, enjoyable but meandering and soft around the edges. Does that make sense? It's being marketed as a mystery, but I think that's a little misleading. Yeah, there's kind of a mystery, but it's more about the people and the places. The book is set in Bangkok in 1996, when you could still go to video rental stores and browse the aisles. Supot, our main character, works for the Thai Royal Mail but isn't really dedicated to his job. His friend, Ali, owns a video store and the two of them spend hours in the back of the store watching classic Western movies. In a batch of old tapes they find a movie, Bangkok 2010. The two men love the movie, which is set in a slightly dystopian future, and they watch it several times before attempting to discover who made it and why it hasn’t been released to the public. The mystery...

The Big Lie by John Mankiewicz

September 14, 2022September 13, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

The Big Lie centers around the filming of "Salt of the Earth" in 1954 in New Mexico. The FBI wants it shut down, believing it to be nothing more than Communist propaganda. The performances are solid and the sound effects evoke the period well. The story itself is a bit predictable, but since it's based on a true incident, that's probably not surprising. It turns out the world isn't as black and white as FBI Special Agent Bergin would like to believe. ...

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

February 17, 2022February 17, 2022 by Carol4 Comments

The Enchanted April is a charming novel, light and breezy and sweet. It's about love and life and being oneself. It's funny and perceptive. The writing is descriptive and witty. Four women, more or less strangers, are escaping dreary London and their dreary lives to spend April in a castle in Italy. They are each unhappy and lonely in their own way, dissatisfied with their lives. Lottie and Rose are in unhappy marriages. Lady Caroline is tired of being fawned over and surrounded by people clamoring for her attention. Mrs. Fisher is a grumpy older woman, a widow who relies on a cane. She, by the way, has some of the funniest moments in the book. Then San Salvatore works its magic on them, first one then more slowly the others. They come out of their shells and relax. They begin to realize what is actually important. They enjoy the beauty around them and in general become more happy, more loving...

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is simple, lovely, and quirky. There's a cafe in Japan where you can travel in time if you sit in a certain chair. Of course, there are restrictions, as you can read in the blurb above. All of the book happens in the cafe, so we get to know the people who work there and the regulars. I don't know if we really get to know them or just get a peek into their lives. We see who they are at the cafe, how they interact with the others there, but not what they do, who they are otherwise, aside from what we're told. It's interesting that, unless someone is there specifically to go back in time, time travel is rarely talked about. It's just part of the cafe, unremarkable to those who are most familiar with it. In this book, we see four trips in time. Each individual knows that the present can't be...

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland

August 15, 2021August 11, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

Family drama is not usually my cup of tea, but Last Summer at the Golden Hotel was a perfect summer read. In the 1960s, two Jewish families bought a hotel in the Catskills. Back in those early days, the hotel was the place to be seen and the Catskills was the place to vacation. Sixty years later, the hotel is run-down and the clientele is definitely slipping. The two families' children are grown and have families of their own. They decide to meet at, "The Golden" for one last summer vacation to reminisce and discuss whether it's time to sell and leave the business. I loved the mix of tension and love between and within the families. I loved the touch of nostalgia and wish I could visit The Golden in its heyday. We've got secrets and scandals, money issues and memories. And honestly I liked all the characters, well except the one who was just clearly a bad guy. And...