Family Life by Akhil Sharma (2014)

This novel begins in 1978, with Ajay, his older brother Birju and their mother leaving Delhi to join their father in America. America seems like a land of wonder and opportunity A tragic accident strikes, leaving one brother incapacitated, and the other practically orphaned in this strange land.

Lovely writing, wonderfully readable. I loved the Ajay’s voice, and his strangely profound childish insights. Fascinating insights into immigrant community life in America (the temples, the healers, the requests for blessings), interesting insight into what it’s like to care for an infirm family member for so long, and growing up as a bit of an oddball. And who doesn’t.

The writing is so spare and engaging, that it was easy to just race through the book. I wanted to savor the lines more. There’s a lovely line about Ajay feeling that he was at the bottom of the ocean - when he was feeling lonely in his room. And of course, I loved this line:

“For me, the two best things about America were television and the library. Every Saturday night I watched The Love Boat. I looked at the women in their one-piece bathing suits and their high heels and imagined what it would be like when I was married. I decided that when I was married, I would be very serious, and my silence would lead to misunderstandings between me and my wife. We would have a fight and later make up and kiss. She would be wearing a blue swimsuit as we kissed.” (p. 38)

Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta (2013)

A collection of short stories centering around Nigerian women as they build lives out of hope, faith, and doubt, following such characters as a young woman faced with a dangerous decision to save her mother and a woman in love with another despite the penalties. The ten stories range from being set in Port Harcourt to people dreaming of America to being set in America.

Okparanta’s writing is spare and lyrical--the stories are very readable. Her settings are vividly evoked from power outages to big oil to immigrant life in America. One of the most chilling stories evokes a girl and her mother trying to escape domestic violence, but are turned down for their lack of a visa. Beautifully depicts both the Nigerian experience and the experience of Nigerian immigrants. The author was born in Nigeria and moved to America when she was around 10 or so.

 Lovely dedication: “For home.”

The Mango Bride by Marivi Soliven (2013)

This novel follows the stories of Amparo, banished to America from her wealthy Filipino family in Manila, and Beverly, a mail-order bride and the niece of Amparo’s faithful family servant and nanny Marcela. The novel wanders through time, exploring the lives of these women and of others in their families, and the different experiences they have both in the Philippines and in America.

 A fascinating depiction of life in Manila and the experience of coming to a new world—for very different reasons. One banished, one searching for a better life. Wonderfully depicts the community (and lack thereof) that each woman finds in America. When the two women, connected in so many ways, finally come face to face over a mango display in the local grocery, it’s a wonderful moment.

Soliven’s writing is wonderfully descriptive and vivid—you can see Manila perfectly through her eyes, from the wealthy estates (with two kitchens) to the seedy neighborhoods, to its pedi-cabs and its barbecue joints. Also, the descriptions of the food is so incredibly vivid and exotic. This is a wonderful read and incredibly absorbing. Soliven won the Palanca Award for the Novel, the Pulitzer of the Philippines. She came to America as an adult, though not as a mail-order bride—she accompanied her husband who was in grad school.

“There is nothing to understand, and everything to forget. That should be the immigrant’s motto.” (Aldo, page 44)

The Secret Side of Empty by Maria E. Andreu (2014)

M.T. is finishing up her senior year of high school, but where her classmates are eagerly anticipating college and the next chapter in their lives, she dreads the end of high school. Monserrat Thalia (M.T. for short) is illegal.

Her parents came to American from Argentina when she was a baby, and they are undocumented immigrants. Which means no papers, and no papers means no college, no jobs, no future. . Her rocky relationship with her parents makes life even harder, despite the presence of good friends and a new boyfriend. M.T. needs to figure out a way to make a life for herself in this country and face the challenges ahead.

The subject of being an undocumented immigrant is beautifully handled in this novel, and based on the author’s own experiences. Although it’s a really tough subject and M.T. goes through some brutal times, M.T.’s voice and humor keeps this eminently readable. Andreu creates wonderfully vivid depictions of parent-teen relationships as well as the experience of first love, and there are some great hilarious lines in this novel. Andreu, born in Spain and raised in Argentina, crossed the Mexican border into US at age 8 and became a citizen under the American Dream Act.

A few quotes I love:

“I will always be a stranger everywhere. With my parents, I am too American. With Americans, I am spectator with my nose pressed against their windowpanes, watching their weird rituals and rites of passage, never quite understanding them completely. A little chunk of me will always be a stranger everywhere, different chunks of stranger in different situations.” (p. 98)

“But then maybe there is no such thing as good kissers and bad kissers. Maybe there is only finding someone who kisses like you do, and kissing each other, only to ten find it breathtakingly good.” (p. 142)

Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen (2014)

Lee Lien recently earned her PhD in Literature but finds herself at home in the suburbs of Chicago, living with her mother and grandfather and helping out at the family restaurant. As she ponders her choices, and her errant brother runs away, stealing their mother’s jewelry, he leaves behind a pin that may or may not have belonged to Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Lee’s attempts to discover the provenance of the pin as well as a secret adoption lead her to contemplating the similarities between her life as a second-generation immigrant and the life depicted in the Little House on the Prairie books. 

A literary mystery (although she’s a terrible detective with her penchant for stealing evidence) that unfolds across the Midwest all the way to California, there’s also a strong thread of understanding the parent-child relationship. The strangest thing about this book is that I kept having to remind myself that it is actually a novel and not a memoir. It feels SO much like a memoir, but very interesting and quite readable.

It's also a fascinating look at Lee’s family’s work in Chinese restaurants and buffets. First line:

 “In August 1965 a woman named Rose walked into my grandfather’s café in Saigon. That much is known. My grandfather would say that’s the beginning of the story. My mother would say I should have left it at that.” 

 “So much immigrant desire in this country could be summed up, quite literally, in gold: as shining as the pin Rose had left behind. A promise taken up, held on to for decades…” (p. 47) 

I love the cover’s take on a Lois Lenski illustration, but of a small Asian girl with sneakers on.

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce (2012)

Have I mentioned my newfound love for Graham Joyce? Where has he been all my life?

Some Kind of Fairy Tale is a story about Tara, a daughter and a sister who went missing twenty years ago. Then one day, she shows up looking like she hasn't aged a single day. She says she was kidnapped by the fairies--what's the real story?

Joyce has a marvelously deft hand at blending fantasy and reality. He creates wonderfully vivid characters, from Tara's brother's 13-year-old son to the semi-retired (and pretty eccentric) psychiatrist Vivian Underwood. Plus, the POV beautifully shifts among characters telling each story perfectly and with so much character that you always know who's speaking.

Also, as a longtime fairy tale devotee, I LOVED all of the epigraphs that started each chapter from such excellent sources as Bruno Bettelheim, Charles DeLint and Terri Windling. And bonus, each epigraph actually relates to the chapter's contents. (It's amazing how often they don't in fiction.) I loved all of the talk of fairy tales, and all of the common threads that connect fairy tales, and how they are still so very relevant to our lives. Just lovely and now on my list of very favorite fairy tale retellings.

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne (2014)

I love Hester Browne's work. She writes lovely, light, romantic and funny fiction. Her characters are fully developed and her relationships are realistic (and don't focus solely on the romantic ones, but all the relationships in our lives).

Rosie is a wedding coordinator (events manager) at a posh London hotel who organizes her life the way she does weddings. All is well and good until the son of the owners pops back into the picture with his California ways and shakes up her worldview.

Romance, light misunderstandings, work-life balance and professional fulfillment ensue. And romance, too.

As You Wish by Cary Elwes (2014)

Absolutely charming memoir about making The Princess Bride, subtitled "Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride."

A fun look at all the ins and outs of movie making, from casting to promotion, written with lots of love and fond memories. Memories by other cast members are interspersed within the narrative, lending a little different view to the proceedings. And who can ever get enough Andre the Giant stories?  Not me for sure.

Elwes is humble, grateful, and marvelously charming. Just adorable.

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan (2014)

I warn you: I'm about to use the word "sweet" WAY too many times. The word totally looks like gibberish to me now. But it's the perfect word.

Sweetshop of Dreams is a typically charming novel by Colgan, who used to write witty chick lit, but who has now taken to writing sweet (but not sickly sweet) novels set in various sweet locations (cupcake cafes, chocolate shops, and now a sweetshop). 

The story:  Rosie's mother asks her to go and visit her great aunt and sell her defunct sweetshop and pop her into a home. Rosie meets a whole bunch of interesting characters and finds her way to romance (leaving behind her non-committal, mama's boy, but sweet longtime boyfriend, who recovers quickly.) 

Very sweet. Not life-changing but full of wonderful characters, and lots of charming meditations on the emotional, nostalgic response that people have for sweets. As someone who definitely has those, it hit the sweet spot for me. (Hee.)

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce (2010)

I loved this book so much that I was searching for books by Graham Joyce before I'd even gotten halfway through this one.

From the beginning to the ending, this is a practically perfect novel--one that I wanted to prolong reading as I was enjoying it so much.

Jake and Zoe are skiing at a resort when they are caught in an avalanche. And the description of Zoe trapped under snow is one of the scariest things I've ever read. Ever. When they finally dig out and return to the resort, everyone is gone, and they can't seem to leave the village. Not only are they trying to figure out what's happening, they're also working on some issues in their marriage.

This novel is subtle and realistic, and beautifully done to the very last page. Everyone I've recommended it to has loved it as much as I have--about six people to date. Yay!