The Nature Of The Beast by Louise Penny ****

Armand Gamache has retired to Tall Pines, but finds himself involved again in crime solving when a young boy, Laurent, is killed after telling everyone about a huge gun he had found in the woods. 

Gamache, his son-in-law Beauvoir, and Chief Inspector Isabel Lacoste are kept busy when the huge gun is actually found in the forest with a strange and evil etching on it. Several days later another person, Antoinette is killed, and Gamache discovers she was the niece of a man who assisted in its construction.

The plot becomes thicker, and the danger greater as more possible suspects seem to appear. In all of this, the cosy little town with its BandB and the bistro, the bookstore, the grocery store, offers a contrast to the evil gun resting in the forest.

Then ding has all the ends tied up nicely, then you read the afterword by the author and find that this story is based on facts!

Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger. ****

A woman named Harriet is pushing her grocery cart towards her car in the supermarket parking lot near Heathrow airport when a man falls out of the sky onto the hood of her car. The man- a Pakistani named Yacub- is unhurt, rolls off the hood, and Harriet takes him home, and hides him. His appearance is the catalyst for change in the household of Harriet, her husband Michael, and their teenaged son Jack.

Secrets are broken and kept, connections are made, and there are some coincidences as well. 

Facebook has a role in this story as well, and opens a discussion of how social media affects our day to day living.

I liked this book because it was a quick, entertaining read. I enjoyed the glimpse of a modern family, the connections throughout the book,, the stresses of living a regular kind of life .

No Relation by Terry Fallis ***

Fallis' fourth novel is about a young man called Earnest Hemmingway, his problems with dealing with a name so familiar to everyone, especially since he was also an aspiring writer. He forms a group of people who all have famous names - Jackie Kennedy, Mhatma Gandhi, Jesse Owens, Diana Ross, among others, plus Marie Antoinette, who runs a bakery called Let Them Eat Cake.

The story is comic, and there were a few chuckles, but I tired of it after a while, although I guess you could say I finished it. 

Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan - second reading.

First reading was July, 2013, and is on this blog. Book Club selection for May, 2016.

I enjoyed this just as much the second time. The gist of the story- the relationship between sisters- starts on page 134-141.

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney ***

I only bought this because it was a "Heather's Pick" and was on sale for $15, although I had read several quite positive reviews.  It was a lighter read than "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen, but it is similar in that it's modern fiction, modern themes, and modern family dysfunction. 

The Nest is an amount of money a wealthy father extends to each of his four children, a fairly substantial amount each of them will receive when the youngest, Melody, turns 40. However, Dad has died, and their flaky Mom, dips into The Nest to pay  damages to Leo, the reprobate oldest son, who gets into a car accident and his passenger suffers extensive injuries. So the rest of the family are all trying to figure out how to get their full share back into The Nest. Most of the four have already set aside some financial goal, counting on The Nest to see them through, and Melody is about to turn 40!

For a first novel, this was well- written, and I think I would have liked it more if I'd read more intensively for the first 100 pages, because I only read a little every day, and kind of lost my focus.

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!