Read, Watched, Wrote: August 2017 Roundup

This sweet book follows Don Tillman, an Australian genetics professor who decides to embark on what he calls The Wife Project to find his perfect partner. Don likely has Aspergers syndrome, and he figures his best chance of finding someone is using a scientific approach.

Along the way, he meets Rosie, a woman he quickly eliminates from The Wife Project, but who intrigues him with her search for her biological father. He quickly jumps into The Father Project in the first of many bursts of spontaneity and excitement that Rosie brings into his well-ordered life.

What I love about Beautiful Ruins is how it plays out the smaller-scale dramas of the people caught in the wake of the over-the-top dramas of Hollywood--in this case, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Minor characters in the novel, their relationship reverberates through the lives of the people around them, even decades after the fact. We follow the story from the Italian coast in the 1960s to modern day Scotland and Hollywood. I like stories that fully humanize people who appear to be supporting characters, and Beautiful Ruins is a great reminder that everyone has a backstory, and everyone is the protagonist of their own life--even after the so-called main characters have left the spotlight.

I've seen this memoir recommended by readers for years, but it was actually the movie trailer that prompted me to pick it up. My impression was that the book was dark and heartbreaking, while the trailer gave the impression that it was about a carefree, inspiring family. I hadn't yet seen the movie when I read this, but I did find the book heartbreaking. Walls seems to cling to the uplifting moments of her childhood, when her father in particular infused their family with a reckless sense of freedom and privilege in their free-spirited rootlessness. While there are appealing elements of his spirit, ultimately the parents' selfishness and neglect is breathtaking, but the resourcefulness of the children is inspiring. (And thankfully, the movie trailer was somewhat misleading. It did stay pretty true to the spirit of the book.)

I listened to this one on audiobook, and at long last I think I've landed on the kind of audiobook that works for the way I listen: short, non-fiction, personal vignettes. I've gone through periods in my life where I did a lot of running, but I wouldn't count myself a runner now, nor do I particularly miss running. Nonetheless, I found Murakami's running memoir fairly compelling. Some of the race recaps were maybe a bit detailed for my taste, but I enjoyed his insights on running and writing (and how he actually doesn't think much about writing or stories while running!). I loved his thoughts on the physicality required to be a writer. As a former competitive swimmer, Murakami's efforts to improve his own swimming for triathlons particularly stood out. Any athlete--especially endurance athletes--will appreciate Murakami's insights into running, his successes and failures, and how they bleed into other areas of his life and work.

I'm not generally drawn to mysteries, but I've been hearing so much about Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series and Three Pines that I had to check it out. Three Pines is a small, artsy town in Quebec that has almost no crime--until one of its beloved elderly residents is found dead in the woods, shot through the heart with an arrow. Is it a hunting accident, or something more? Gamache brings his team in from Montreal to investigate. The great thing about this book is the kind but flawed people at the heart of it. Gamache doesn't follow the bitter-but-brilliant investigator trope; he doesn't always see the answer, but he does know how to lead and relate to people. The people of Three Pines have formed a sort of family against a backdrop of quirks, past hurts, and current struggles. The characters drove me through this book more than the mystery, and I look forward to more visits to Three Pines.

Wolf Hollow is a middle grade book that made my list of favorite books of 2017. A Newbery Honor winner, this novel blew me away with its spare but insightful, searing writing--especially in the first few chapters, so I was hooked from the start. Twelve-year-old Annabelle is content with her life in school and on her family farm until Betty shows up in town. Betty quickly proves herself a cruel bully who has it out for Annabelle and anyone near her, including Toby, a reclusive World War I veteran who has befriended Annabelle and her family. As the stakes rise, Annabelle's strength and compassion are put to the test.