Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

★★★★★

"America, I think, is about poor people playing music and poor people sharing food and poor people dancing, even when everything else in their lives is so desperate and so dismal that it doesn't seem there should be any room for any music, any extra food, or any extra energy for dancing.  And people can say that I'm wrong, that we're a puritanical people, an evangelical people, a selfish people, but I don't believe that.  I don't want to believe that."

"It's all been worth it.  Every fight, all those years of childish experimentation, the occasional heartbreak, the paltry checking account, the used, old trucks.  To have lived with another human being, another person, this man, as long as I have and to see him change and grow."

This was an incredible book and I'm so glad that I picked it up!  The book is essentially a love song to life - to friendships, to family, to love, to forgiveness, and to small-town rural Wisconsin.

Hank, Leland, Kip, and Ronny were all born and raised in the small Wisconsin town of Little Wig.  They have been friends since as long as they remember.  They each went their separate ways after high school, but they soon find themselves all back in town and husbands and fathers and still trying to figure out their place in the world.  And then there's Beth, who plays a special part in each one of their lives. Shotgun Lovesongs is a truly remarkable book and a tribute to American live and is filled with rich storytelling and finding hope against all odds.

This description says it all: 'There is conflict here between longtime buddies, between husbands and wives — told with writing that is, frankly, gut-wrenching, and even heartbreaking. But there is also hope, healing, and at times, even heroism. It is strong, American stuff, not at all afraid of showing that we can be good, too — not just fallible and compromising. Shotgun Lovesongs is a remarkable and uncompromising saga that explores the age-old question of whether or not you can ever truly come home again — and the kind of steely faith and love returning requires.'

This book was #5 on my top ten list of 2015.

We read this for the January 2016 selection of the Germantown Community Library Adult Bookclub.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

★★★★

"The holes in your life are permanent.  You have to grow around them, like tree roots around concrete; you mould yourself through the gaps."

Rachel is in her late twenties and her life has taken a turn for the worst.  Recently divorced, she has taken to heavy drinking and now lives with an old friend from college.  Rachel lost her job, but still takes the train into the city everyday so that her roommate won’t know that she is out of work.  Everyday, she takes the same train route and sees “Jess and Jason” having breakfast on their porch.  Rachel has made up names for the couple and sees them as having the “perfect life.”  Only a few doors down lives her ex-husband, Tom, with his new wife and daughter.  One day, Rachel sees “Jess” kissing a man on her porch that isn’t her husband and it is soon reported that she has gone missing.  Rachel soon learns that “Jess and Jason” are really Megan and Scott.  Wanting to help the police find Megan, she reports what she saw and finds herself suddenly involved with their lives.   

            As the search for Megan continues, flashbacks show that her life and marriage to Scott were not as perfect as them seemed.  Tom’s wife Anna also plays a part in the story when the police find out that Megan had previously helped out with babysitting their daughter.  Rachel learns that the lives of herself and the other two women are more connected than she had realized.  When Megan turns up dead, Rachel is determined to help Scott figure out who the murder is.  The more tangled up that Rachel gets in the investigation, the more secrets she learns about Megan’s past life.  But, Rachel’s drinking problem often causes her to forget things and she is far from a reliable source.  She may know something about the murder, but the police (and readers) question whether or not they can trust her.

I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down.  It had a rapid and intriguing storyline that kept my interest until the very last page.  Many reviews that I read of the book stated that the book was the “new Gone Girl.”  I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn a few years ago and would have to agree: both books were compelling, suspenseful, and had wonderfully written characters that I hated and loved at the same time.  My only concern with the book (and the reason I gave it four stars out of five) was that the three voices of Rachel, Megan, and Anna felt too similar to me.  I sometimes found myself forgetting which narrator I was reading because they seemed too alike.

Bitch by Deja King

★★★

            Precious Cummiongs grew up raised in the projects of Brooklyn, New York.  Previous lives with her mother who is a drug addict and prostitute.  When Previous is fifteen, her mother informs her that she owes her $1,000 a month for rent of she will kick her out on the streets.  Precious works part-time at a car dealership, but does not make enough money.  Left with no other option, Precious begins hustling for money.  She quickly becomes involved with some of Brooklyn’s top kingpins of the streets.  This leads her to Nico Carter, the “King of the Hood” who gives her all the money, fame, and position that she could have dreamed of.  When she kinds out that Nico is cheating on her, she plans for her revenge that goes terribly wrong and leads to the death of her mother.

            With Nico’s stolen one million dollars, Precious leaves her street life in Brooklyn behind and moves to Jersey.  By chance, she meets Rhonda and moves in with her.  Rhonda works in the music business and introduces Precious to a whole new life.  At a club one night, she catches the eye of Supreme, a famous rapper.  Precious and Supreme quickly fall for each other, but Supreme suspects that there is more to Precious then she lets on.  Will Precious risk everything by telling her new boyfriend about her past?  And will what she did to Nico finally catch up to her and ruin her glamorous life?

Urban Fiction is a completely new genre to me.  I honestly did not know anything about it, other then being familiar with the name, before taking this class.  All of the slang, as well as the frequent graphic sex, violence, and language took me a little while to get use to, but I finished the book very quickly and it generally caught my interest.  It had a fast and exciting pace, dynamic characters, and lots of action.  This genre is not one that I would normally choose to read, but I can see its appeal for readers. 

The Preacher's Daughter by Beverly Lewis

★★★ 1/2

"These days, my thoughts, even my convictions, seem to shift with the fickle hues of a Pennsylvania sky...a blending of what was true for me as the young preacher's daughter with what I now see and know.  Is there no way to blend my opposing desires?  Will I ever understand all of the shades of goodness, faith, and even someday, love?"

Annie Zook grew up in an Old Order Amish community in Pennsylvania and is the only daughter of a Preacher.  At twenty years old, Annie is reaching adulthood in the church and must decide if she will make the life-long devotion and be baptized into the Amish faith.  Her long-time beu, Ruby Esh has recently broken off their relationship because she could not make a commitment to the church.  Annie wants desperately to please her parents, but her secret love of art is holding her back.  Art is a forbidden activity by the Amish and Annie has bad to hid her talent since she was a young girl.  She has a hidden studio in her cousin Julia’s attic where she can create her masterpieces, but if she is found out, Annie will have to leave the church, her family, and the only live she’s ever know.

Louisa Stratford has been Annie’s pen pal since the girls were very young.  They have never meet, but have become over close over the years and share their thoughts, secrets, and love of art.  Louisa is an art teacher from a very well to do family.  Against her parent’s wishes, she has recently broken off her engagement to her fiancé Michael and is looking for an escape from her life.  She contacts Annie and asks if she can stay with her Amish family for a while.  Annie’s family agrees and Louisa is thrown into the “simple life” of the Amish that is very different from her own.  Dealing with decisions of her own, Louisa must also help Annie decide which path is right for her.

I have not read many Christian Fiction novels, but this book was generally enjoyable.  The dialogue seemed a little forced at times and the plot was somewhat lacking, but I would assume that this is true for most novels in this genre.  The author brought a unique environment to life in regards to the Amish community and I was interested to learn that her mother was from an Amish background.  The conflicts that Annie faced when deciding between her people and her love of art seemed very realistic and I enjoyed the contrast of her live with that of Louisa’s.