“As she reads these pages, something verging on magical happens, making her think for the very first time that books might be better than real life.” Clara Reads Proust Stephane Carlier

You may have thought by now that I didn’t finish any books in July, but, au contraire, I did complete quite a few books. Here are a few of them:

Poster Girls Meredith Ritchie. Historical fiction based on the Shell Assembly Plant which was built in Charlotte, NC during WWII. Maggie Slone has moved to Charlotte from Boston to be near her husband’s family while he is at war. Not wanting to totally depend on her in-laws, she gets a job at the plant though she does need her mother-in-law to help take care of her young twin daughters. Dropping off some books at the library, Maggie meets Kora Bell, whose husband is also in the war. Though Maggie is white and Kora, black, through their shared love of books, they become unlikely friends during the days of Jim Crow. Some interesting history about Charlotte that I was unaware of though I’ve lived her for over 30 years. Ritchie does a good job of showing the trials women went through during the war and what they did for themselves and their families as well as illustrating the racial tensions and misunderstandings that inevitably existed between neighbors and co-workers. 4 stars

Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food Ann Hood (essays). A group of essays centering around Hood’s life with food. Each comes with at least one recipe. Hood was raised in an Italian American family where her grandmother and mother were constantly cooking and keeping the family well-fed. Though she forged her own path, she never quite forgot her roots. No matter what life threw her, she always had cooking and sharing food to get through life’s toughest times. 4 stars

The Library Book Susan Orlean. (non-fiction) On April 29, 1986, a fire started in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was over, 400,000 books were gone and 700,000 were damaged. Though investigators spent much time and energy trying to discover the cause, over thirty years later, it is still unknown who or what started the fire. Besides covering the fire itself, Orlean tells of the history of this particular library, her own love of libraries, and some of the colorful characters that made up the Los Angeles Public Library. 4 stars

Same Time Next Summer Annabel Monaghan. Sam and her doctor fiancé, Jack, have come to her family’s beach house on Long Island. Sam is anxious to show this side of her family to Jack; their laid-back side. Jack doesn’t do laid-back, so is not as impressed as Sam would like. However, he’s willing to check out a wedding venue there since it means so much to Sam. Sam’s plans for a relaxing few days at her childhood beach are quickly ruined when she finds out Wyatt, the boy who broke her heart when she was 17, is also in town. Can Sam lay things to rest with Wyatt? On top of that, Sam might be getting fired from her job in Manhattan. And she can’t decide if that’s a bad thing or not. My second book by Monaghan and it did not disappoint. 4 stars

My Life in France Julia Child (memoir). In the later years of her life, Julia Child shared her early life in France with her husband, Paul’s, nephew, giving us a close-up look of the woman who brought French cooking to America as well as being a forerunner of the now popular cooking shows. Child first came to France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, a diplomat for the U.S. Paul Child had lived in France and could speak French, but Julia could neither speak French nor knew anything about the country or culture. With her boundless enthusiasm, Julia began to get to know her new country by going to the marketplace and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu. The rest as they say, is history. I enjoyed hearing about Julia’s experiences in her own words as well as letters from family and friends. 4 stars

James Percival Everett (audio). A re-telling of Mark Twain’ s Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of the slave, Jim, who decides to run when he hears he is to be sold. The young Huck Finn decides to fake his death to escape his abusive father. Not knowing the other is running, they find each other on Jackson Island, and their flight from danger begins. Everett follows Twain’s story in many ways, but in this one, we see the intelligence of Jim and what he does to hide that from white men. A couple of other twists occur, making this a great one for book clubs. 4 stars

The Cartographers Peng Shepherd. Nell Young has always been fascinated with cartography and wants to do nothing else. Not so surprising since her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a well-known cartographer with a highly esteemed position with the New York Public Library. But, some years ago, Dr. Young fired his daughter from her job at the NYPL and made sure she would never work again in the field. Nell never learned why her father became so enraged over her finding of a cheap gas station highway map. And now, Dr. Young has been found dead in his office. When Nell finds the supposedly worthless map hidden in his desk, she has to investigate. What she finds leads her into danger and into a strange world where maps have secrets. I greatly enjoyed this fantasy where different worlds and secrets collide. 5 stars

Clara Reads Proust Stephane Carlier; translator-Polly MacKintosh (French). Clara is a hairdresser at Cindy Coiffure. Her job is okay for now, but she wonders if she couldn’t be doing more. When a customer leaves behind the first volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, Clara puts it away but when the customer never returns, she ends up picking it up and reading it. Clara becomes engrossed in a new world and suddenly cannot stop reading. How the book (and subsequent volumes) changes her life makes for a charming read. This is the only book by Carlier translated into English. I hope more of his books will be translated soon. 4 stars

What You Wish For Katherine Center (audio). Katherine Center is becoming one of my go-to authors when I want an entertaining romance, yet they are not shallow or fluffy. Just characters going through stuff and eventually finding love. In this one, Sam is a school librarian who is happy with her job. When the school announces the name of the new principal, Sam is not sure if she should be excited or dismayed. Duncan Carpenter is a name from her past, a fellow teacher from another school, an unrequited crush. But when Duncan shows up and begins immediately to establish new and more rigid rules, she wonders if her memory is faulty because this is not the fun and unpredictable Duncan she remembers. 4 stars