Tom's Lake - Ann Patchett

 

I indulged in actually buying a couple of new books for Christmas, this was the first one that I read.  I've read Ann's books before; The Magician's Assistant, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and a long time ago, Bel Canto.

This story is about a mother and her three grown daughters who beg her to tell her the story of her life before she met and married their father.  They'd known she had dated a "movie star" and wanted to hear the details.  It is a gentle balance of children seeing their parents as people and parents shielding the children, even as adults, from some pieces of their past.  

I enjoy Patchett's writing although I found this one almost too nostalgic at times.  A good read for the holidays.

Published: 2023   Read: December 2023  Genre: Fiction

Memory Man - David Baldacci

I read this to review it for one of my book clubs.  I don't like mysteries and I really don't like pulp fiction.  It's formulaic writing; plug in lots of violence, a disturbed hero and a few fawning females to pursue the bad guys in an implausible crime.

The plot is about an ex-football player who was hit so hard in a play he now has perfect memory of everything, especially the murder of his wife and child.  He had been a police detective so when a high school massacre happens, he gets involved only to find out it is linked to his family's murders.

Only convinced me to continue to skip this genre.

Published:  2015   Read: February 2017  Genre: Pulp fiction