The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Fiction

I picked up this book because when I saw the cover, it haunted me. It’s just a simple washed out picture of a woman, but the one strip of paper ripped in front of her mouth left me with an eerie feeling that I wanted to go away but at the same time craved to feel more of. I had to include a picture, maybe you will feel what I felt when you see the artwork. I hoped that I would find a worthy story inside that gave me the same feeling as the cover.

It’s a very mysterious tale that begins with a diary entry, which leads you to expect more entries, but then the next chapter is from the point of view of someone else. You learn about the woman in the diary through the eyes of her psychotherapist for a while before you get to read from her point of view again. It goes back and forth a little bit, not in an irritating way, but in a way that makes you want to get to the next part so you can unravel the mystery. I read this in three days because I couldn’t wait to see what was going on. I did figure out what was happening a little while before it was revealed, which disappointed me a bit, not because I figured it out, but because I really enjoy being surprised and I don’t think of myself as someone who is good at piecing clues together. Maybe I am just getting better at it because I have been reading much more frequently lately. 

I do recommend this book. It was an easy read, but it kept you thinking and it made you want to stay up late in an attempt to try to finish it before going to sleep.

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

Fiction

I have to say, I was expecting a murder mystery when I read the title of this book and the blurb on the back. I was not expecting an existential tale of a woman losing her mind in three days. It starts off insidiously enough with an older woman finding a note on a secluded path which admits to someone being aware of a murder. You start to believe that this is going to be an exciting tale of an ordinary woman solving the riddle of who killed a girl, but then you reach a point when you realize there never was a girl or a murderer. You get attached to the story that the old woman makes up in her head, you want to know more about the girl that she is conjuring up. She makes the girl sound intriguing, you want to know why she was murdered, and by who, and where her body is. But none of it is real. It was honestly pretty disappointing for me.

Besides being disappointed in the lack of an actual murder mystery, I was left wanting to know more about the main character, Vesta. The little bits we learn about her life before she moved to this desolate town leaves you curious, especially with regards to her vivid imagination. That she comes up with this story about a girl so quickly and dreams up all these intricate little details about her life is extraordinary. But if you consider that she is quite alone and lonely, and is quite possibly going mad, then the fact that she is imagining everything isn’t quite so amazing. The mind can go to strange places when your days are empty and you don’t have anything to look forward to. On top of the fact that she seems to resent the life her recently deceased husband forced her to live, coupled with the fact that at her age there is not a lot of hope to live out her forgotten dreams, it’s no wonder that she becomes absolutely insane. 

I’d recommend this book for deep thinkers, because I was certainly wondering about the state of Vesta’s mind. This book may only appeal to people who are interested in life’s deep questions and psychology, because I think the only way I was able to find a certain enjoyment in this book was by trying to work out what was happening to her mind and how a professional would diagnose her mental illness. I’ve read better existential crisis type books, so I don’t think I am going to save this one for my collection. And a final thought, not being a huge fan of this book has not deterred me from being curious about the author’s other novels, I am looking forward to reading something else by this woman.

Skye O’Malley by Bertrice Small

Fiction

The O’Malley saga is what I consider to be Bertrice Small’s greatest collection of stories, and the first book in the series is titled after the incredible woman herself. We are taken on the amazing adventure that is Skye’s life beginning in Ireland in the mid 16th century where we are introduced to her and her large family headed by her pirating giant of a father. Described later on as a woman who is always in love, we see the tragedy of her experiencing love at first sight, that love being reciprocated, and her unfortunately being married to another man. A great deal of this first book narrates the ill-fated circumstances of Skye and Niall and how the very universe itself seems to be keeping them apart. When you aren’t despairing over the unfairness of these two being kept apart we sail with Skye as she takes over the family business after the unexpected death of her father. After a huge turn of events, we follow her to Algiers where she lives for many months, and eventually we make our way to England where she finds herself being welcomed into the elegant court of Queen Elizabeth the first. 

Even though I have read this book and the others that follow it many times, I knew I couldn’t have a book blog and not include these stories in it. I could read any one of the Skye O’Malley books in a few days, although I am certain they are meant to take much longer than that to read. If you love historical romance you cannot neglect to include these books in your collection. Add Skye O’Malley to your list, and pick up the sequel, All The Sweet Tomorrows, because I guarantee that once you finish reading the first book you are going to be dying to know more about this woman and people surrounding her. 

I am also going to add a picture here so you can see what you are getting yourself into. If you love the scenes that romance novels are famous for, you will be getting your money’s worth here. I marked down all of the scenes worthy of noting, I definitely did not mark all of the scenes, and it is a lot! I think out of all the books this one probably has the most scenes, so if you read and end up finding it excessive, I believe after the next book things slow down.

The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly

Nonfiction

I was once again tricked by a nice cover and a title that grabbed my attention which had me thinking, I have a feeling this is going to be a very enjoyable book. However, the reality is that it took me weeks to read it. I ended up reading a section of a chapter at a time because the only way I was able to get through it was by telling myself that I only needed to get to the next break. There were some interesting pieces of information, but as a whole I could not stay focused on the overall contents of the text. I’m mostly disappointed in myself for imagining that the book would be riveting based on the title and the summary on the back cover. I should know better as I have been tricked before.

I do have a few nice things to say though. I liked reading that one of my favorite guilty pleasures, fan fiction, is a form of Remixing, which makes me feel less guilty reading about characters from literature as reimagined by everyday hobbyist authors. The chapter titled Interacting was the one I found most engaging overall, as I could see examples of it in the lives of people around me. Also, there was one passage in that chapter that made me want to pick up my violin, which I haven’t touched in over a year, and it still impresses me that a short paragraph made me feel that way. Tracking reminded me of a book I have reviewed previously, Off The Clock, as it discussed future ways we might track ourselves to improve our health and various other aspects of our lives. 

Having been published in 2016, some of the forecasts made by the author have come to fruition, which is both intriguing and impressive. There are also predictions that I don’t see as likely to happen in our lifetimes, and perhaps not even at all. The book is a collection of ideas of what the future could possibly be like, if we don’t destroy the planet before humankind can figure out how to make these things possible. Some of the predictions and possibilities irked me a little and made me hope that I won’t be alive if technology indeed reaches that stage. Overall, not a bad book, but it’s not one I see myself reading again as I did not enjoy it very much.

Love Wild and Fair by Bertrice Small

Fiction

A perfect sequel to The Kadin, the story of Janet Leslies descendants is just as compelling as her own. This follows the life of Catriona Hay and her cousin Patrick Leslie, the earl of Glenkirk, who were matched to marry by their great grandmother while they were both still children. Although Janet planned the marriage with the best of intentions, it started off incredibly rocky and almost didn’t happen at all. After resolving their differences and coming to an agreement before their marriage, the earl and countess had several years of happiness. Unfortunately, everything they built over the years began to fall apart after several unfortunate incidents including an unwanted affair, betrayal, and a lack of trust and respect. Things work out for the best for both of the Leslies of Glenkirk in the end, but there are many years of turmoil, pain, and misery before either of them become truly happy. 

I loved this book and would read it again but there was one thing that really bothered me. It had to do with the dates in which certain events happened. The death of an important character occurs in the spring of 1599 in Love Wild and Fair. However, in another book, Lost Love Found, this same character is still alive in the year 1602. I think that at the time when Mrs. Small was writing Love Wild and Fair, she did not yet know that she would be writing another book involving some of the same characters 11 years later. I will forgive her for this, but it will always irritate me. I will not tell you to not read this book because of that, because if I did you would be missing out on an incredible story.