Book Review | Book Chatter

Greenwich Park
By Katherine Faulkner
Gallery Books, 9781982150310, January 25, 2022, 384pp.

The Short of It:

If you are into page-turners, Greenwich Park should be your next read.

The Rest of It:

Helen and Daniel are expecting a baby. They live in a beautiful house that Helen’s family left to her. Every day Helen realizes how lucky they are to live in such a beautiful home and after several miscarriages, she is finally looking forward to having a baby boy. Plus, she’s lucky to have her brother Rory and his wife Serena, also pregnant, living close by.

One day, at a pre-natal class she meets another young mother by the name of Rachel. Rachel is a little bit odd. Kind of loud and brash. The father of Rachel’s child isn’t in the picture so when Rachel attempts to make friends with Helen, she reluctantly gives in, feeling a little sorry for the girl. Lunch here and there. Tea. It isn’t such a horrible ask until Rachel shows up with bruises around her neck and asks to live with Helen and Daniel.

Daniel is immediately put off by the request but Helen, fearing for the girl’s safety, allows her to stay for a day or two. What is this girl’s story? Who is hurting her? What does she do in her free time? She has plenty of money but doesn’t appear to have any kind of job.

As Helen’s due date approaches, the mystery ramps up and the tension runs high as Helen tries to figure out a way to get rid of Rachel without hurting the girl’s feelings.

What Helen doesn’t realize is that none of this is accidental.

Oh, I love a book that gives you a reason to forgot all household duties. Dinner? Nah. I gotta get back to my book. Laundry? Only if I can read in-between loads. I RACED through this one. Actually, I tried to read it a long time ago and put it down for something but when I picked it up again this past week I flew through it. I highly recommend it.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love
By Haruki Murakami
Knopf, 9780593320426, November 2021, 192pp.

The Short of It:

A very different type of Murakami read.

The Rest of It:

Anyone who knows me well, knows how much I love Haruki Murakami. I love everything he has written. Not because his work is perfection but because his writing is ALWAYS a palate cleanser for me and always so different from what I’ve been reading. Murakami T – The T-shirts I Love delivered, as promised.

Among other things, Murakami collects T-shirts and decided to write about some of his favorite pieces. This might sound as interesting as cleaning the lint trap of your dryer, but let me tell you, it is all very interesting. His musings about why a shirt is memorable range from his admiration over graphic design, the message it’s attempting to convey, or how it captures a certain moment in time, like his many marathon t-shirts. I’ve never been a big graphic -shirt wearer but with each page, I could easily appreciate his observations.

My only criticism is that I read this review copy on my Kindle Paperwhite so the many photos were in B&W which took away from some of the design aspects he was attempting to call out. If you pick up this book, and you should, get a physical copy or read it on on iPad with the Kindle app.

Murakami’s books come every two years or so due to them being translated so I was happy to see this one while I wait for new fiction to drop.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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