Gilead.

GoodReads Synopsis: In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War," then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend Ames writes to his son about the tension between his father--an ardent pacifist--and his grandfather, whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and those settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend's wayward son.

This is also the tale of another remarkable vision--not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in Ames's soul during his solitary life, and how history lives through generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten.

My Thoughts:  This is my second Pulitzer Prize winning book in the last two years, and each of them have left me wondering who in the world gives out this award.  It only took me 150 pages into this 247 page book to find a plot.  I know it was supposed to be a journal from a dying father to his son, so it was going to ramble and not follow a typical storyline.  However, it was incredibly non-linear at many times jumping from scene to scene, character to character then back again that frustrated me immensely.  What saved this book from one star was a lot of the wisdom that was present in Reverend Ames's musings and the story with John Ames Boughton that finally went somewhere in the last twenty pages.  Two stars.

The Dress Shop of Dreams.

GoodReads Synopsis:  Since her parents’ mysterious deaths many years ago, scientist Cora Sparks has spent her days in the safety of her university lab or at her grandmother Etta’s dress shop. Tucked away on a winding Cambridge street, Etta’s charming tiny store appears quite ordinary to passersby, but the colorfully vibrant racks of beaded silks, delicate laces, and jewel-toned velvets hold bewitching secrets: With just a few stitches from Etta’s needle, these gorgeous gowns have the power to free a woman’s deepest desires.

Etta’s dearest wish is to work her magic on her granddaughter. Cora’s studious, unromantic eye has overlooked Walt, the shy bookseller who has been in love with her forever. Determined not to allow Cora to miss her chance at happiness, Etta sews a tiny stitch into Walt’s collar, hoping to give him the courage to confess his feelings to Cora. But magic spells—like true love—can go awry. After Walt is spurred into action, Etta realizes she’s set in motion a series of astonishing events that will transform Cora’s life in extraordinary and unexpected ways.

My Thoughts:  I desperately wanted to love this book.  After the beautiful works of Sarah Addison Allen, I sought out other "magical realism" books, and this was recommended by many.  Unfortunately, I found it greatly lacking.  

First the good-- the magic in this book is Etta's dress shop and her ability with her magic needle and thread to reveal to a person his/her deepest desire and give them the courage to pursue it.  I loved the discussion of her shop and how it changed for each customer, and then how it changed each customer.  Beautiful.  The relationship between Etta and Cora was also beautiful and touching.

But, the story relied heavily on my least favorite plot device ever-- a misunderstanding or lie that one character relies upon that changes their life (and therefore guides the story).  So, I spent almost all of the book incredibly frustrated and desperate for the truth to come out.

I also enjoyed the bit of mystery in the book, but it was clear early on who the bad guy was.  

Overall, it wasn't the worst book ever, but it didn't make me want to pick up another by this author.  Two stars.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.

GoodReads Synopsis: The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The bookstore’s secrets extend far beyond its walls.

My Thoughts:  This is another one that has been on my list for a while that I finally got around to reading.  I didn't love it.  It was very different than my usual genres and was a bit difficult to get into. The plot was interesting, but it just wasn't my favorite.  If you like books that are just a little off-center or about secret societies, then this is the book for you.

All the Light We Cannot See.

GoodReads Synopsis: Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall. In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.

My Thoughts:  I know I'm in a very small minority, but I did not like this book at all.  It was a good story, but it took forever for anything to happen.  If you love a book full of beautiful descriptions and long, wordy prose about nothing, then this is the book for you.  It was not, however, the book for me.