Mike sleeps and I read. My Kindle emits less light than a night light, so my reading doesn't disturb his beauty rest. Here are my latest reads:
FICTION
The Mermaid's Child by Jo Baker - This is a fantasy about a girl, Malin Reed, who goes off to find her mother after her father dies. According to the father, mom was a mermaid who couldn't hang around on dry land to raise her daughter. According to the reviews, Malin is an androgynous creature who doesn't reveal her true gender until the end of the book. I didn't read that at all. While Malin masqueraded as a boy some of the time, she always seemed like a female to me (and, spoiler alert, she's a girl). Malin's all-over-the-world adventures were an odd mixture of creepy and boring. After Malin's adventure comes full circle, the book ends abruptly. It was an unsatisfying read.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - It's a story about three women, their secrets, and the lies told to cover things up.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - Amy Dunne is a fake girlfriend, fake wife, fake friend, fake victim, and real, live psycho. The book was a little different and a little better than the movie.
The Handsome Man's DeLuxe Café by Alexander McCall Smith - This is the fifteenth book in
the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. It is as delightful as the other fourteen books.
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - This Mormon themed book is a combination of historical fiction and modern murder mystery. It alternates between the story of the woman who may have been Brigham Young's 19th wife and the story of a current day woman who is the 19th wife of a fundamentalist LDS leader. Warren Jeffs might have been the inspiration for this book.
The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob - It's about Indian immigrants parents and American born children, their connection to the old country, and their lives and deaths in the new country.
NONFICTION
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - Some stuff in this book didn't ring true - because it wasn't true. James Frey originally marketed this book as a memoir, but called it semi-fictional when he was found to be a liar. Maybe some people get more satisfaction out of being sober if they remember themselves as much worse substance abusers.
Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller - I previously read Ms. Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness. These two books are about Ms. Fuller's unconventional upbringing in English colonial Africa. Before the Rains Come is about getting married to an American, settling in the United States, and going through divorce (with a side story of succumbing to the family curse - bipolar disorder).
Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi - A memoir about growing up female in Iran before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution of 1978-1979.
Dancing Girls of Lahore by Louis Brown - Lahore is a city in Pakistan. The dancing girls are prostitutes as well as dancers. Prostitution is illegal in Pakistan, but it is ignored as long as it stays in the pleasure district. Sociologist Louise Brown spent four years studying one woman who plied the dancing trade while raising three daughters. Like ballerinas and NFL players, Lahore's dancing girls have short careers. Unlike ballerinas and NFL players their daughters always follow in the parent's footsteps.
Mick Jagger by Philip Norman - I've heard people say they can't understand how such an unattractive guy could get so many good looking women. After reading this book, I can't understand how a guy who treated women so badly could get so many good looking women. Mick's first serious girlfriend, Chrissie Shrimpton, attempted suicide after their break up. Marianne Faithful did the same. L'Wren Scott succeeded in killing herself in 2014. This looks like a pattern.
Fox Catcher by Mark Schultz - It's supposed to be the story of David Schultz's murder at the hands of John E. DuPont as told by David's brother, Mark Schultz. It's really Mark Schultz's tedious autobiography with a few pages about his brother getting killed by that nut DuPont. The book is boring and poorly edited.
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