“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

The Kingdoms of Savannah George Dawes Green. Savannah is a beautiful city to visit—full of history, good food, and atmosphere. But, for the people who live there, there is a darker side which can go unseen unless you know where to look. When a building burns down with a homeless man inside, an unsavory developer is arrested for his murder. Declaring his innocence, he seeks to hire Morgana Musgrove, a pillar of high society, to prove his innocence. Morgana, in turn, pressures her four grown children to help her. No one believes this man can possibly be innocent, but something is definitely going on amongst Savannah’s elite. I read this with a mystery book club. Most of us have visited Savannah at some time or other and are familiar with the landmarks mentioned in the book. A good mystery with some interesting history woven in. 4 stars

Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World Andrea Pitzer. I don’t know why I enjoy reading of these arctic explorations, but I have read several and find them fascinating. It’s certainly not that I have any desire to walk in the footsteps of these men or even get on a boat and follow the paths of William Barents (as did the author). In spite of the failures of the voyages Barents was involved in, he is renowned for what he brought to the world of navigation. What the men survived (the ones who did) and how makes for entertaining and sometimes cringing reading. Reading of the many polar bear attacks and the effects of scurvy is not for the faint-hearted. They didn’t eat the bear because they didn’t care for the meat? And they didn’t think to use that fur for coats? Humans are strange creatures. One interesting discovery came when they found some barnacle geese on an island sitting on nests. For centuries, people did not understand that birds migrate. “Because these birds vanished each year from their European habitats and returned the following year but were never seen laying or nesting their eggs, it had been a matter of folk superstition common in England and Europe since the twelfth century that they grew out of driftwood, or perhaps shells grown on a ‘barnacle tree’ that fell in the water and matured.’ Barents would be credited with dissolving this myth though it would take many years for it to die completely. 4 stars

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake Amy E. Reichert. Romance and food—two of my favorite subjects. Lou is struggling to make her dream come true of building a successful French restaurant in Milwaukee. When a food critic visits the place on a bad day—a very bad day—Lou’s restaurant seems to be doomed. In spite of this and in spite of going through a bad break-up, Lou meets a charming English man and offers to give him a tour of her city. What she doesn’t know is that this man writes (incognito) as a food critic. And what he doesn’t know is that Lou is the owner of the awful Luella’s he visited one time. Will the truth come out and can their love survive it? 4 stars

Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver. Winner of the Pulitzer and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kingsolver takes the well-known Dickens story of David Copperfield and places it in the mountains of southern Appalachia in the 21st century. Demon (nickname for Damon) lives with his mother in a trailer owned by the Peggotts who do what they can for Demon and his mother. After hurting her back, his mother becomes addicted to pain pills. When she marries Stoner for love and security, Demon’s life goes from bad to worse. Much worse. If you’re familiar with the story of David Copperfield, you know how some of this is going to play out, but the story is worth the ride. You will root for Demon and also want to shake him at times. 4 stars

Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships Sarah Grunder Ruiz. Jo Walker  has a condo on the beach she inherited from her grandmother and works on a yacht for a company that caters to different groups of people during the summer. She has made a bucket list of things to accomplish before her 30^th birthday, all made in fun and something she has been sharing on her blog. A family tragedy sucks the fun out, but her best friend and nieces want to help her finish anyway. When she does one of the things on the list (kiss a handsome stranger), someone new enters her life. Since they both declare they don’t date (for various reasons), they try to at least to be friends. A sweet, though often sad, story of love, friendship, and family. 4 stars

The Housemaid Freida McFadden. I kept putting this down during the first half of the book. A little too disturbing for me. But, once I got past the halfway point, I had to know what was going on and who was really the crazy one. A woman who has recently gotten out of prison is desperate for a job, so she accepts one as a maid for a wealthy couple and their bratty child. The wife, Nina, makes things as difficult as possible for her, but how can she leave? She knows no one will want to hire an ex-con. Besides, there’s Andrew the kind and extremely handsome husband. Can he make things at least bearable? 5 stars