Mini-Reviews of Recent Reads: August 2023
August 2023 book reviews of new books Tom Lake, The Wishing Game, Double-Decker Dreams, Shadow Drive, Ladies of the Lake, and Cunk on Everything.
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This time of year gets so busy with school and fall activities starting up. My reading (and posting, and videos…) always falls by the wayside a bit, and this year is no exception.
Luckily, the print books I did read were amazing. Like last month, the audiobooks were just okay, aside from one very unexpected and weird satirical listen that kept me laughing.
September reading is looking up (I’m loving both of my current reads) and I’m hoping to finish working through my summer reading plans and look ahead to fall books.
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Print and E-Books
Tom Lake
Author: Ann Patchett
Publish Date: August 8, 2023
Source: Library
Genres: Literary Fiction
On a cherry orchard in Michigan, Lara and her husband Joe have welcomed home their three grown daughters at the start of the pandemic. The family is scrambling to harvest the cherries with a reduced staff, and the girls ask Lara to tell of her summer in stock theater at Tom Lake, where she had a romance with now-famous actor Peter Duke.
Lara stretches her story out over weeks, revealing truths, correcting her daughters’ misconceptions, and keeping some precious things to herself. She revels in the time with her daughters, where time feels suspended in much the same way it did that summer at Tom Lake.
Every moment of this rare summer literary fiction novel feels like golden hour, filtered through the haze of memories, lakes, and dreamy orchards. Patchett seamlessly weaves between the timelines, while quietly revealing truths about family and personal history. Every word feels careful and perfect; I loved it. I read this in print, but I’ve heard the audiobook narrated by Meryl Streep is also sublime.
Related: Books to Read if You Love Ann Patchett
The Wishing Game
Author: Meg Shaffer
Publish Date: May 30, 2023
Source: Random House Publishing via Netgalley
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction
Lucy is a young woman with a difficult past, but she loves her job as a teacher’s aide. When a seven-year-old student loses his parents, they grow close and she would like to adopt him but doesn’t feel her life is stable enough. She is thrilled when her favorite childhood author emerges from seclusion with a new novel. Then he announces that four select readers–including Lucy–will join him on his private island to compete for the only copy. This would be her chance to sell the book and get the stability she needs to adopt Christopher–if she can beat out the other determined competitors, and outsmart the gamemaster.
Shaffer freely admits to being inspired by Willy Wonka, and the magical feeling of that book is here–minus the creepy candyman, Oompa Loompas, and sadism. This is a love letter to books and the ways they save us, as both adults and children. You’ll definitely need to suspend your disbelief a bit, but once you do, the whimsy here is irresistible.
Related: 13 Books that Feel Magical
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Audiobooks
Shadow Drive
Author: Nolan Cubero
Narrator: Bernardo de Paula
Publish Date: July 11, 2023
Source: Libro.fm ALC
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers
Gabe owns and manages a number of rentals, a career that gives him the flexibility to care for his daughter Megan, who was critically injured in a car accident when she was driving drunk. He’s also trying to repair his relationship with his ex-wife Anya, and when a house that she owns is ready to rent again, he hastily rents it to an older woman without doing a background check or collecting a deposit.
He’s quickly locked out of the house and realizes that she is tearing it apart–and it’s clear that this is targeted, and she’s looking for something. He needs to find out what she wants and why she targeted him.
This had an intriguing premise and a number of twists–some that I saw coming and others that surprised me. The main character was frustrating in his constant bungling of things, which took away from the intrigue, but overall this had enough to keep me listening and the story paid off.
Related: 11 Twisty Mystery and Thriller Audiobooks that Will Keep You Guessing
Double-Decker Dreams
Author: Lindsay MacMillan
Narrator: Madeleine Maby
Publish Date: June 6, 2023
Source: Libro.fm ALC
Genres: Romance, Contemporary Fiction
Kat is an American living in London, pursuing her dream of climbing the corporate ladder all the way to the top. When she spies a handsome man who regularly rides the bus that drives by her apartment, she concocts a dream relationship and identity with the mystery man, certain that he is a posh British dreamboat. When she finally works up the courage to go and meet him, the reality is much different. Can she let go of her fantasy and embrace what’s real?
I had a lot of trouble getting on board with this one–Kat was insufferable and didn’t improve much throughout. It’s hard to care about a romance when you don’t like one of the characters. This had potential, but unfortunately didn’t work for me.
Related: The Best Romance Audiobooks to Get Your Heart Racing
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Ladies of the Lake
Author: Cathy Gohlke
Narrator: Stephanie Richardson
Publish Date: July 11, 2023
Source: Libro.fm ALC
Genres: Historical Fiction
After the loss of her parents, Adelaide MacNeill is sent from her home in Prince Edward Island to the Lakeside Ladies Academy in Connecticut. She bonds with Ruth, Susannah, and especially Dorothy (Dot), but Dot and Adelaide fall out when they fall in love with the same man–who faces his own challenges when the community rejects him and his German family during the Great War. Seventeen years later, Rosaline Murray is looking back on her years in school, certain she can never go back and be Adelaide MacNeill again.
This is apparently Christian fiction, which is not really my thing, but the touch is light enough that I didn’t pick up on it until well into the story. The years in school stretched on a bit long here, before getting to some of the later years that were more interesting (to me) historically–especially some Canadian history that I wasn’t very familiar with. In addition, this is also based on a real girls’ school and on a correspondence between Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) and an orphan girl. There were definitely some things of interest here in this women-focused historical fiction, but for me, it falls into the range of “good, not great.
Related: 12 Must-Listen Historical Fiction Audiobooks that Bring the Past to Life
Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena
Author & Narrator: Philomena Cunk
Source: Libro.fm ALC
Publish Date: September 26, 2023
Genres: Nonfiction
I was not aware of who Philomena Cunk was before listening to this book, but you may know her if you’re into British television. She is not a real person, but a character created by the actress Diane Morgan, known for conducting ridiculous interviews with actual experts and hilariously bungling the facts.
Bungling facts is exactly what she does in this “encyclopedia.” Cunk works her way through the alphabet and deconstructs a mishmash of topics, offering explanations that sound…almost right, until a wrong word or phrase is thrown in and the whole thing devolves into chaos. But at least she’s confident!
This audiobook (narrated with fantastic deadpan delivery by Morgan as Cunk) often had me giggling. I do recommend listening in small doses and mixing it up with something else; the encyclopedia format gets a bit tedious when listening in long stretches. Otherwise, this was a delightful little foray into absurdity, and I plan to check out the Netflix show.
Related: How to Start Listening to Audiobooks
What have you been reading lately?
