The Book of Lost Hours

If you don't normally think of yourself as a science fiction reader, you might want to give Hayley Gelfuso's novel The Book of Lost Hours (#1,350) a try.  The action begins when Lisavet Levy's father, a watchmaker, puts her inside the mysterious time space to save her from the Nazis on Kristallnacht.  She never sees him again.  She grows up mostly alone, learning about the books on the walls of shelves in this place.  But it isn't totally safe; she sees uniformed men searching the shelves and destroying certain books.

Years go by until Lisavet meets Ernest, a young American, and falls in love.  Book is their story as they deal with the consequences of destroying or preserving memories.  Lisavet is eventually forced back into the outside world by a brutal and powerful American agent working for a secret government program.  Given a new identity, she meets Ernest again but must keep life-changing knowledge from him.  It's a difficult dance. 

There are some interesting ideas here about the space/time continuum.  Could it work like this?  An intriguing premise.

The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America

I've been meaning to read Matthew Pearl's book The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped American (#1,349) for quite some time.  I'm only just now getting around to it, but the timing has proven to be perfect, since we are also watching Ken Burns' The American Revolution on television.  I've been amazed at how the stories dovetail.  It's all part of the arc of the American imperative for western expansion and the European politics which aimed to limit that growth with both sides using the native Indians to further their own purposes.

Jemima Boone was close to her legendary father Daniel Boone who never met a boundary he didn't want to push.  He had brought his family to Boonesboro in Kentucky despite warnings from both the British authorities and the Indians themselves, who understood that Kentucky was part of their sacred hunting grounds as set apart by the British monarch.  Neither stricture made much of an impression on Daniel.  Jemima and two other daughters of the fort's other leader were captured from their canoe in plain sight of the settlement in July of 1776.  When the Indian leader of the expedition recognized Jemima as Daniel Boone's daughter, his prize became even more valuable as a bargaining chip.  It set off a series of events which influenced the very outcome of the American Revolution itself and the trajectory of new nation in its greed for new territory.

Pearl's background as a historical novelist infuses this non-fiction work with all the page-turning suspense of those thrillers as he explores a little-known aspect of our common history.

A Ferry Merry Christmas

What's Christmas without a Debbie Macomber book to give you the warm fuzzies of a holiday romance?  This year it's A Ferry Merry Christmas (#1,348).  Ms. Macomber says she based her story on a rare occurrence: one of the Puget Sound ferries stranding on a sandbank.

Avery Bond is taking the Bremerton ferry to meet her brother in Seattle for the Christmas holiday, their first without their beloved Grams who raised them.  To sweeten the pot, Reid has made them a reservation at her favorite seafood restaurant overlooking the Sound.  

To the trio of Navy submariners aboard, something is sounding off about the ferry's engine, but frankly, Harrison is more interested in the cute brunette aboard.  Avery wants nothing to do with him at first because she's been burned by a two-timing Navy man.  Harrison persuades her to give him a chance for as long as it takes the ferry to reach Seattle.

In the meantime, her brother and his sister are awaiting the ferry's arrival at the Seattle terminal.  Reid recognizes Kellie from a workshop she gave at Microsoft and they wind up spending the time together as well.

Yes, there's no mystery about what's going to happen here, but it's always entertaining to watch the romance (in this case, the romances!) unfold.  Something warm to put you in the mood for the holidays!

Katabasis

R.F Kuang is certainly catholic in her output.  Katabasis (#1,347) is her take on a classic trope of a journey through the Underworld.  Here Asian, classical and Inferno references all have a place.  The question is, can you stick through the extended philosophical flights long enough to return to the upper world?

An American graduate student wins a place at Cambridge with a world-renowned Professor of Analytical Magick.  In reality, he's a misogynistic, bullying parasite who expects absolutely everything from his hapless advisees.  Alice Law is never quite sure whether or not she deliberately messed up her pentagram which caused Grimes to explode.  But that creates a problem for her; Grimes hasn't approved her dissertation yet.  She frantically researches spells for entering the Underworld with the thought of retrieving Professor Grimes.  Just as she's about to complete the pentagram, her nemesis Patrick appears and jumps inside the form with her.  Her academic rival is the very last person Alice wants accompanying her on a trip to Hell; but isn't that appropriate?

Do they succeed?  Is Professor Grimes really worth saving?  Will either Alice or Partick or both survive to re-emerge in the upper world again?  It's only a considerable investment of your precious time to find out.

There Will Be Bodies

There Will Be Bodies (#1,346) by Lindsey Davis delivers on its promise, but certainly not in the way that private investigator Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius Faustus expect in this entertaining mystery series

Tiberius grew up in his uncle Tullius' house.  They theoretically share the family fortune, but that's a notion more than a fact as Tullius can squeeze a sesterce so hard the gods would shriek.  He's inveigled Tiberius Manlius to renovate a vacation villa for him he bought for a song not too far from Mt. Vesuvius.  The eruption was over ten years ago, but there's a catch; the villa is still half buried in volcanic debris.  If Tiberius can clean it up for him, they will have the use of the property during the project.  A seaside villa sounds like a good idea when it might be prudent for the family to be out of reach of the Emperor for the time being.  The seller of the property warns them at a meeting that his brother went missing at the time of the eruption - so be on the lookout for any clues to his whereabouts.

Flavia Albia and Tiberius Manlius along with their household therefore aren't surprised to find skeletal remains on the property, but they are shocked by the circumstances and the number of bodies.  Flavia, of course, has been commissioned by the former owner to identify his older brother, if possible, but now she's on a mission to identify the other bodies on the property and the circumstances which led to their deaths.  Even though it happened ten years ago, Flavia Albia is stirring up a hornet's nest amongst those who presumed the victims would never be found.  The pirates! The pirates, O beware!

Wish You Were Here

It was really surprising to read Jodi Picoult's Covid pandemic novel Wish You Were Here (#1,345).  Not only did it have a shocking twist in the middle, but it all seemed as though the story took place years ago, not just a relatively brief five years ago.  That was the consensus of my book club as well.

Diana O'Toole is just where she wants to be in life.  Her trip to the Galapagos with her boyfriend Finn will result in their engagement: she's seen the ring in his sock drawer.  But when a mysterious virus shows up suddenly in New York City, it's all hands-on-deck for Finn, a surgery resident at New York Presbyterian.  Since their trip is all paid for, he suggests Diana go on her own, safe from the virus.  She agrees and winds up isolated on Isabela Island as the Galapagos shut down as well.  This is the story of how the couple copes with their enforced separation.  Or do they?

It's the classic fever dream story.  Relationships are turned on their heads as the entire world shuts down.  Diana and Finn are only able to communicate sporadically by email as she settles into island life and new relationships while Finn is overwhelmed both physically and emotionally by the demands of his hospital work.  Once they are reunited, can they resume the perfect relationship they once shared?

It's an absorbing read touching on the issues of love and loss.  If you are reading this, you are old enough to have lived through this turbulent time yourself and Diana and Finn's dilemmas are entirely relatable.