Before Fame

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is an autobiography of his life before becoming a well known tv personality.

Noah’s birth to an interracial couple is a crime in apartheid South Africa. Much of his young childhood is spent pretending his mom and dad are not his actual parents (depending on the neighborhood they’re in or who they’re with).

Noah writes his life story by mixing in historical information about post apartheid in South Africa. He describes himself as a colored person, neither fully black nor white. This automatically sets him up for many uncomfortable situations in school and life as he attempts to fit in.

His mom is a very important part of his life. She is devoutly religious and they spent every Sunday going from church to church. She raised him to be an independent thinker. Noah was always a troublemaker and entrepreneurial. He started making money off his peers at a young age.

He recounts many of his pivotal life stories. There is a mixture of funny, scary and emotional events that make up Noah’s life. This was a very interesting read and it opened my eyes to a life and place I had no prior knowledge about.

Murder House

The Only One Left by Riley Sager is a caregiver’s experience with a murderous patient.

Kit feels some kinship to her patient, accused murderer Lenora Hope, because Kit is surfacing from being falsely accused of killing her own mother. Lenora is mute and can only use her left hand following a stroke. She has been locked away in her home for practically her entire life (following the murders of her parents and sister). When Kit arrives following the mysterious disappearance of the previous caregiver, Lenora seems willing to share the truth of her past. She begins typing out her story for Kit.

Lenora’s truths are eventually revealed with several twists along the way. While this story wasn’t a personal favorite for me, I’m sure it will appeal to some murder mystery fans.

Riding Waves

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver tells Demon’s story from birth to adulthood.

Born under unusual circumstances, he is raised by his single mom (his father died in an accident) and by elderly neighbors (who are also raising a grandchild). His mom is an on and off again addict.

Demon’s life is sent on a bleak spiral once his mom marries an abusive man. This chain of events leads Demon into foster care before he eventually becomes an orphan. His foster homes range from neglectful to physically abusive.

He eventually finds his paternal grandmother; a woman he had only vaguely heard about. His grandmother sets him up with a better lifestyle, but he eventually falls out of it due to an injury and subsequent drug abuse.

There are so many interesting characters that weave in and out of Demon’s life, and a deep love of community embedded in the events. It’s a complex and well written story with too much detail to include in this brief summary.

Love that Lasts

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune is a slow-moving romance.

Fern and Will spend an incredible day together, but Fern already has a boyfriend. Despite this, they vow to meet a year later at Fern’s family’s resort on the lake. They plan to review their goals with each other. But Will doesn’t show up.

Fast forward ten years later. Fern’s mom passes away, leaving her with a big decision. Will she sell the resort that has been in her family for years, or will she take it over (in doing so giving up her own business plans)?

Will comes back in the picture as a consultant. This complicates matters even more as she experiences long buried feelings for him. Throughout the book are flashbacks from their first day together, and clips from her mom’s journal. L

ife takes unexpected turns, and the best-laid plans may change.

Press Rewind

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale is a Groundhog Day-type story in which Cassandra desperately tries to fix a botched relationship.

In one day, Cassandra is dumped, fired and on the verge of being kicked out of her apartment. Added to this is her parents’ death ten years earlier. Her autism makes it very difficult for her to interact with others “normally.”

She sets about fixing things once she realizes that she can rewind time (within a few months) whenever she desires. After countless attempts to control outcomes, she realizes that some things are unavoidable while others change more subtly. It becomes apparent that her gift for time travel is to repair a family relationship and to figure out herself.

There is some humor and plenty of repetition to understand the characters along with countless references to Greek mythology (one of Cassandra’s profound interests).

Deadly Worm

The Troop by Nick Cutter is a solid horror book.

A Boy Scout group of five teenage boys and their scout master are on an island for their yearly getaway. Each boy‘s background is explored a bit through the story. There is a budding psychopath, an overweight nerd, a jock, one prone to anger issues and his closest friend.

Their whole group is put to the test when an infected stranger shows up during their first night. This sets off a domino effect of contagion which pits the group against each other in varying degrees. Snippets of the experiments that led to this point are scattered throughout the story in the form of interviews and news clips.

I had to skip over a few particularly gruesome scenes involving animals. Reminiscent of Lotd of the Flies cranked up with a horror/science twist, it is a take on human nature in extreme circumstances.

User’s Life

The Guest by Emma Cline is a trippy novel.

Alex is a major player. She lands herself a great deal by starting a relationship with a wealthy man named Simon. All is going well until he decides to break up with her.

She can’t go home (she left on bad terms with just about everyone). She decides to stay in the area for the week until Simon’s big Labor Day party. She feels this party will be her moment to win him back. Until then she works her way into various groups of people in order to use them as needed. She manages to botch just about everything that she touches along the way.

Spoiler- the ending is a huge cliffhanger. Maybe I missed something, but I wasn’t sure if she was even alive any more once making it to Simon’s party. Overall this is a decent read with lots of uncertainty to keep you going. Unfortunately for me, the uncertainty remained after finishing!

Office Crush

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is a fun, steamy romance.

Lucy and Josh are both assistants to the co-CEOs of a recently merged book publishing company. They can’t stand each other and purposefully annoy each other on a daily basis which creates some entertainment.

Events get spicy once they are both up for the same promotion. Through this, they begin to develop feelings for each other, or is it possible that those feelings have been there all along?

This book reminded me a bit of the movie “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” It was a perfect summer beach read.

Working It

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz is a quirky read about main character Cara’s experiences with a Senior Workforce Program.

We learn more about Cara during her weekly check ins with her caseworker. Cara is an immigrant from the Dominican. She arrived in America many years earlier with her young son to escape her abusive husband. She lost a factory job she had for years, and is hoping for help finding a new job in order to keep her apartment.

Cara has made some interesting choices (affairs, abusive actions toward her own son), but she has also shown herself to be a strongly devoted woman. This story is a quick read about working with what you have, and not giving up despite barriers.

Mermaids

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd is a fantasy story taking place in the mid 1800s in England.

Bridie is a female detective of sorts, with exceptional understanding of the medical world. She was an orphan who changed hands a couple times before ending up as ward to a doctor. She is unable to work in her field because of her gender during this time period.

She is asked to help search for a missing girl named Christabel. She went missing along with her nanny. Christabel is a merrow, or mermaid, who is most likely being sold for a high price as an oddity.

Bridie’s search mixes her up with unsavory people from her past, most notably the doctor’s son. She is accompanied by a boxer ghost who also seems to have a link to her past. Eventually, Bridie confronts her past while attempting to rescue the mermaid girl.