I'm not sure if "leaving it all out on the rink" is said in the sport of hockey, but WOW! (to use another baseball analogy)-- Swedish author Fredrik Backman hits another one out of the park here. His latest novel, The Winners, is the third in the "Beartown" Trilogy and is a 668-page saga following the residents of a forest down obsessed with hockey set a couple of years after the rape of Maya, which threatened to destroy the town and neighboring (rival) Hed. This book is about so much more than ice hockey, though. It's about messy, flawed humans, the challenges of parenting, teen loneliness, love and relationships, work-life balance, loyalty, betrayal, losing, and winning. It's about life, death, and everything in between and Backman's breathlessly captivating writing, humor, and depth of emotions as well as the characters will stay with you long after the last page.
On Rotation was the delightful debut novel by a Ghanaian-American physician and author which tells the story of Angela, a medical student trying to make a meaningful difference in the demanding and often unrewarding field of medicine (something I know a lot about!) while also juggling matters of her own heart (with new but complicated love interest Ricky) as well as her African parental/cultural expectations. Funny and heartwarming!
This memoir was an incredible read while we were abroad in El Salvador for spring break. It chronicles poet Javier Zamora’s adventure as a solo nine-year-old as he flees his native El Salvador through Central America to join his parents in "La USA." Your heart will break reading about the hardships of facing dishonest people and coyotes, fear of and deportation by "La Migra," but you'll also be amazed at the kindness and love he is shown, particularly from other "migrantes" along the way. No human is illegal.
Wow!! I couldn't have more superlatives for this book if I tried. Remarkably Bright Creatures is the heartfelt debut novel by Shelby Van Pelt which tells the story of a remarkable friendship between an aquarium cleaner Tova, a stoic widow grieving both her husband's death from cancer and the mystery of her son's disappearance as a teenager decades before, and a Giant Pacific Octopus (Marcellus). Uniquely told from their different points of view and involving another major character, Cameron, whose connection with Tova is explained as the book unfolds based on incredibly smart Marcellus' clues and communication, this book will leave you amazed and also reconsidering how such a smart animal can ever be humanely confined in a tank.
The author of this sweeping novel, Abraham Verghese (who also wrote Cutting for Stone) is an incredible storyteller as well as a medical doctor currently working at Stanford. The fictional book chronicles the life of three generations of Christian Malayali living in South India (Kerala) during the twentieth century, starting with a twelve-year-old child-bride, who marries into a family in which a peculiar "condition" (an aversion to the omnipresent water and death by drowning) afflicts various members of the family. Many generational secrets are revealed in this incredible book, which has hefty and very interesting doses of medical and surgical details and knowledge, passionate love stories and relationship drama, history, politics, and amazing words and manifestations of faith in God. My mom told me that the estate (Parambil) where much of the book is set reflected much of her childhood in South India. I could not put down this (long!) page-turner, and tears were streaming down my face as I finished the last chapter.
Australian OB-GYN Dr. Catherine Hamlin and her husband Reg moved to Ethiopia to start a midwifery school. What ensued was a lifelong dedication to medical practice helping victims of obstetric fistulae (resulting from obstructed labors and distances from medical centers, injuries almost never seen in first-world countries) and opening a "Hospital by the River" to surgically heal almost 90% of these unfortunate and often-ostracized patients, who, after years of incontinence, shame, and isolation can go on to lead happy, fulfilled lives. Birth nerds will really enjoy this really inspirational and hopeful book by a Christian woman called to serve "The least of these..."
Book Lovers, a title which caught my eye for obvious reasons, was my first book I read by Emily Henry, and I have subsequently read others (all funny and delightful romances)! This rom-com features Nora Stephens, type-A New York City-based book agent, who goes on a trip to small-town North Carolina's Sunshine Falls with her very pregnant sister to bond. Surprisingly, gruff editor Charlie Lastra who she knows from NY is actually from the small town... and book lovers connect. Fans of Colleen Hoover will enjoy Emily Henry's books, too (which are a bit less twisted).
Hello Beautiful was in high demand for e-reader loan and so I finally borrowed it in print from our local library on many others' recommendations. The novel tells the story of essentially abandoned child and basketball star William Waters, whose life changes when he marries into the close-knit Padavano family. Themes of family, love, forgiveness, grief, and second chances, are explored in this emotional novel, which I really enjoyed.
Demon Copperhead was a long, deep, often depressing but ultimately hopeful book about the resilience of Demon (Damon), orphaned at a young age in the hills of Appalachia, bouncing from foster home to foster home, and trying to forge a meaningful life despite the curse of poverty, a culture of despair and opiate addiction, and not mattering enough.
