Janna Wong Healy

This is a Book I Will NEVER Forget!

Reviewed: 06-22-25

I have decades of reading behind me and yet I can count on one hand the books I loved so dearly that I will never forget them. Body & Soul by Frank Conroy is one of those books. From the first line, I knew I was going to like the book and as I continued to read, I became seriously ensconced in the life of Claude Rawlings.

We first meet Claude as a young child, too young for school, who spends his days locked in a low-income basement apartment as his single mother works as a cab driver in New York City. One of the things he discovers in his basement room is an old piano and as he begins to tinker with it, he realizes how much he loves playing it.

When he is a few years older and allowed outside to attend school, he finds a music store around the corner. Many times, he stands outside, staring into the store, looking fondly at the instruments. Doing his best to gather a few cents, he finally walks into the store to buy an instructional book on piano playing. He meets the store's proprietor, Mr. Weisfeld, an escaped refugee from Germany. It's not long before Weisfeld recognizes Claude's immense talents as a piano prodigy. Treating him like the father Claude never had, Weisfeld encourages Claude to continue his work with the piano, arranging lessons with masters, each of whom recognizes the boy's talent.

Through Claude's life from student to performer to composer to star, we are enthralled as we witness Claude's growth as a performer and a man.

The narration is wonderful -- clear and understandable -- and with the ability to pronouce a variety of composers' names with perfection.

This is a thrilling, beautifully written, and overall wonderful story of growth and maturation. I never wanted it to end.

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Another Excellent Mystery from Anthony Horowitz!

Reviewed: 06-12-25

I love Anthony Horowitz's adult mysteries. To be honest, I enjoy the Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries a little more than the Susan Ryeland series, but I'm an avid fan of Mr. Horowitz and have read all of them.

His latest mystery -- Marble Hall Murders -- is my favorite of the Ryeland series. It's so clever and beautifully written, keeping the reader from ever figuring out who killed whom and why. In a stroke of brilliance, Horowitz offers several different murders -- the one featured in the latest (and last) Atticus Pund mystery novel, now being written by Eliot Crace, grandson of a world-famous children's author Miriam Crace, and one that occurs inside the Crace family.

As Susan Ryeland becomes more involved with editing Eliot's attempt at Pund, she is drawn into the lives of the dysfunctional Crace family and learns many hidden secrets about the matriarch, Miriam Crace. So, while Susan is trying to polish the book and its ending, she is also drawn into the murder of the Crace family member.

The narrators, Lesley Manville (who portrays Susan Ryeland in the series) and Tim McMullen (who portrays Atticud Pund in the series) are perfect.

This book is one huge puzzle and it's so much fun trying to keep all the pieces in order.

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Meet Hercule Poirot

Reviewed: 05-24-25

This Agatha Christie novel introduces us to Hercule Poirot. This Audible Original is a "play on tape" and it is pretty engaging, starring Peter Dinklage in the title role, and a host of well-known British actors, all of whom give wonderful performances.

Any mystery relies on the opening chapters, when the reader (or listener) has no idea which points will turn out to be major clues. It's no different here. But therein lies the difficulty in listening instead of reading. I lost track of a few of the characters until they became more important to the plot. This is entirely on me!

The story is about a wealthy widow who recently marries a man that no one in the family likes. She rewrites her will, giving everything to him. The next day, she is dead.

Enter Hercule Poirot. It's up to the master detective to investigate and identify the killer.

While I'm not a huge Poirot fan, Dinklage's performance might seriously change my mind. He gives an engaging performance, and he is surrounded by a great cast who give their all to their roles.

Overall, this is a nice performance of a great little mystery.

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Another Winner from Fredrik Backman

Reviewed: 05-24-25

Fredrik Backman is a special kind of author. You begin reading his novel and you keep asking yourself, "Where is this going?" And then...suddenly, you're locked in and can't put the book down.

His latest novel, "My Friends," is an absolute gem as he explores deep friendships, showing the reader the glories and pains experienced by the friends. In his facile and wry manner, Backman manages to create a coming-of-age story about four 14-year-old kids and a travel adventure between one of those friends (now grown up) and a young, lost teen. Through it all, Backman engages the reader by flipping between current day and long ago days. Through these various flips, we get to know and love those four friends in addition to watching the budding friendship between that one grown-up friend and the young, lost teen.

Backman's prose warms your heart, tickles your funny bone, and brings you to tears. In other words, it's another winner from Fredrik Backman.

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Trey Gowdy -- He's Just Great!

Reviewed: 05-12-25

I've always found Trey Gowdy to be an excellent human -- honest and forthright. His book treats the topic of decision-making with the same sense of honesty and forthrightness. It's an extremely helpful guide for anyone who finds it difficult to make a decision. He peppers his advice with his own experiences and these are interesting and even entertaining to read.

I could not put this book down and listening to his narration makes it even better.

Make the decision to read this book now...you won't regret it!

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Repetitive but Engaging Nonetheless

Reviewed: 05-12-25

This novel received a lot of positive publicity and for good reason. While it's not based on a true story, the author carefully adopts key moments of a real-life adventure and places them in a plot with fabricated characters.

The riches-to-rags story of a young woman who is sent to an isolated island with her lover as punishment for their illicit love affair is certainly interesting and engaging as the two work hard to make the barren land their home. Yet, there is a sameness about the plot that becomes repetitive and irritating.

But read to the end to learn what happens and you'll find satisfaction there.

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This Novel Will Change Your Outlook

Reviewed: 05-12-25

I don't normally read books about wildlife (they always make me sad or uncomfortable) but when a friend recommended this book to me, I decided to jump in and give it a go.

What an emotional experience it was! During the reading process, I experienced so many different emotions: I was enthralled, emotional, angry, happy...because the author, who owns and operates a wildlife game reserve in Zuzuland, South Africa, has spent decades tending to his animals.

He opens his book by describing the phone call he receives to take in a herd of "difficult" elephants. If he doesn't take them, the entire herd will be killed. So, he has no other choice -- he takes them in. Ostensibly, this book is his journey with this herd of elephants and his description of the experience are emotional and exciting.

As a confirmed city gal, this book opened my eyes to life outside of my urban environment. And I really enjoyed the experience!

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1 person found this helpful

Why Did I Listen to This?!

Reviewed: 05-12-25

I understand that I am in the minority but this book did not in any way resonate with me. In fact, I'm irritated with myself that I took the time to finish it!

What begins as a somewhat intriguing story about a young woman whose family (two sisters and an aged father) rely on her completely for their very existence transforms into a weird teenage fantasy. In this unremarkable and repetitive story, the young heroine is caught killing a wolf she should not have killed and this brings her to a new land as a captive. She falls in love with the man-beast who captures her and, of course, they fall in love. But this creates a whole other series of masochistic "tasks" when the protagonist is caught trying to save her beloved by an evil female leader of a different world who is also in love with the man.

I am a huge fan of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, the only true fantasy book I've ever really enjoyed and that's likely because Harkness is a historian and educator and her creation of a woman who falls in love with a vampire has a solid base upon which to explore.

The author of this book lacks this ability and facility with words, character development, and plotting, so the novel remains an odd teenage-style romance between two ill-matched people.

I did not like it at all.

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Another Enjoyable Novel by Jojo

Reviewed: 05-12-25

4.5 Stars. Full transparency: I am a huge fan of Jojo Moyes. I love her writing and adore her characters and the predicaments they find themselves in. And while this book does have moments of "we've seen this before," I still enjoyed the read.

It centers on the protagonist Lila, an author whose last book was a huge seller, enabling her to purchase a house that is now way too big and in need of repair. Meanwhile, her husband Dan just left her for a much younger woman who has a child of her own and one on the way so Lila can't count on him for any financial support. Also, with the recent death of her mother, it's decided (why whom, she can't recall) that her lonely stepdad Bill must move in with her, making the house seem small now, with her two girls, Violet and Celie, trying their best to grow up amidst the chaos (while also creating said chaos). And let's not forget landscape gardener Jensen, hired by Bill to restore the backyard, an act that Lila cannot afford.

While Lila copes with this chaos, in walks her actual dad Gene, an over-the-hill American actor who has fallen on hard times (although he won't actually admit it) but needs a place to stay while he finds work on this side of the pond.

Lila's life is in a constant state of agitation, whether it's calming her teenager Celie, yelling at Gene for abandoning her mom and her, falling in love with a parent at her kids' school who turns out not to be the prince she envisioned, writing a new book that her agent demands she make sexier, or not recognizing the goodness of Jensen.

Some may find this novel a bit predictable; I did, too. But Lila is an engaging protagonist and her situations are fun and entertaining.

I still love Jojo Moyes' work. It always elicits the deepest emotions in me.

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Did Not Engage...

Reviewed: 05-12-25

I kept seeing this book on readers' lists so I thought I'd give it a go, despite the fact that I read a Liz Moore novel early in her career and it didn't resonate with me.

I'll be honest: I didn't like the book very much. I found it tropey and predictable. There wasn't one character who rang true to me or with whom I was the least bit sympathetic. And there were SO MANY of them, many of whom had no real reason to be included in the plot. The author's forwards-and-backwards plotting grew tiresome quickly. And, the summer camp setting, which is typical tried-and-true, didn't seem realistic to me.

The novel did not resonate with me at all.

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