Nora Webster by Colm Toibin ***

I could only give this 3 stars, despite what the critics said. It was a story of a grieving widow, and I recognized Nora's struggle to adjust to a new life, but the story didn't seem to go anywhere. Even when her daughter goes missing, Nora carries on pretty much  as usual- I expected more emotion from her. Anyway, I'm going to try and copy a review of the novel from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/books/review/nora-webster-by-colm-toibin.html

It worked!

The Dust That Falls From Dreams - Louis de Bernières ****

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières is one of my favourite novels, so I was happy to find this at the Panama City Library, even though I knew Imight not be able to finish it before leaving. I had to do some skimming near the end, but I did finish it.

It's the story of three families - McCosh, Pendennis, and Pitt- who are neighbours in Edwardian England. The children of these three families are all Pals- close, lifelong friends. Some of the boys grow up to fight in WWI, the girls to work as nurses and volunteer aides. There are romances, heartbreak, tragedies and triumphs, all described so vividly and beautifully by the author.

Bernières is really at his best describing the hash realities of war- life in the trenches, in the planes, in the hospitals. He especially enjoys describing battles in the air, real ones and the ones in which the men let off steam in air shows. He also describes how the war is fought back home in England, and how people like Mrs. McCosh never recover from what she saw during a bombing raid.

He also describes the aftermath of war- how relationships build and break down- how men who were masters of their planes now have nothing to do.

There are some wonderful characters, too, especially Hamilton McCosh, the tradesman who is for ever trying to perfect his golf game and invent various contraptions to enable him to play better and maybe ger rich in the meantime. His Scottish burr comes through, his soft spot for down and outs, his love of his four daughters, plus his patience and charm  with his wife, who is not easy to get along with.

This is an old- fashioned novel, the kind I love to burrow down with. So glad I read this!

Dead Wake by Erik Larson ****

This non-fiction book follows the fateful trip of the ocean liner Lusitania, which was sunk by a German torpedo just off the coast of Ireland in May, 1915. En route from New York to Liverpool, the ship was one day away from its destination, passing through a channel well- known for German submarines, but the ship's captain was led to believe the ship would be safely escorted, and it wasn't. In Britain a highly secret de-coding agency called Room 40, knew of the danger, but for whatever reason- probably thinking a shipwreck like this would hasten America's joining the Allied Forces- the Lusitania sailed, fully ignorant of the danger ahead. 

The book relates the voyage, the passengers' various stories, the trip and the commander of the U-20, the German submarine, plus a detailed description of the sinking. 

This was a very absorbing read, almost like a novel. I'm glad I read it- it offers a completely different vantage point of the Great War, and America's involvement, not to mention the British duplicity, especially Winston Churchill, who was First Lord of Room 40.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper ***

Etta, aged 83, suddenly decides to leave her farm in Sakatchewan, her husband Otto, and walk to the east coast to find the sea.Russell, their friend and a former suitor of Etta's sets out to find her, upset that Otto, who fought in the war before marrying Etta, understands why she has gone and why he must let her do this.  Meanwhile, Etta meets James on the road- a faithful companion, although the reader is never really sure if James is actually there or not.

The novel is a fairly quick, tender read, and the author's style can best be described as quirky. The novel moves back and forth in time, and actually some of the characters seem to interconnect in different ways as well.

I'm not sure I liked the ending! I think maybe Etta and Otto become one before they even enter the water- sometimes Otto is the subject of the sentence, but the pronoun is a female one in the same sentence. A bit confusing, but I think the author is telling us there are no pat answers, and there could be several possible scenarios- she uses this technique once in the book while Etta is walking eastward.

The author confesses she writes in a very linear fashion, and it seems to work well for her. 

But I can't give it more than three stars, simply because of the non- ending!

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith ***

The third round of the Cormoran Strike novels, this was also perhaps the longest, and I eventually tired of it, surprisingly, because I did enjoy the first 200 pages, the tension between Robin and Cormoran, the fact that there were 3 possible suspects, and some interesting characters. JK Rowling, the actual author, says in her acknowledgements, that writing this novel was like a playground for her amidst other writing projects, and I think she just didn't want to let it go. Too much talk, too much dithering about Robin and her fiancé. 

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi *****

The author was only 37 years old, a brilliant neurosurgeon just finishing his residency, when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, a cancer which had spread to his brain. He was also a student of philosophy and literature- an underachiever he was definitely not- and in the midst of this diagnosis, he was able to find strength and purpose in writing about his journey. This book is the result. 

I heard his wife, who completed the book after his death,  on CBC while driving from Ottawa to Toronto, and knew this was a book I had to read. 

He doesn't just write about his cancer, he writes about his experiences as a doctor, the triumphs and the losses. And what struck me the most was his sense of purpose - that until he died, he would keep on living as fully as he could. 

There are some wonderful highlights on my Kindle, too.

His wife, Lucy, herself a doctor, wrote about his final days in the epilogue. This was not a sad story at all, rather a wonderful tale of living in the moment.

Ethan Fromme by Edith Wharton ****

This is a novella more than a novel, only took maybe three reading sessions to finish it. But quite an enjoyable story about Ethan Fromme, his wife Zeena, and Mattie, the cousin of his wife who comes to care for Zeena, who is constantly ill. Ethan falls in love with Mattie, and Zeena wreaks revenge upon Ethan. Quite a compelling read, a good love story about having no chances at a future together and he the overs seek to solve their problem.