Coming of Age | Book Chatter

Lost & Found
By Brooke Davis
Dutton Books, Paperback, 9780147517739, January 2016, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Quirky, touching, funny. Basically, everything you could want in a story.

The Rest of It:

Millie is just 7 years-old. After her father’s passing, Millie finds herself fascinated by dead things. One day, Millie’s mother leaves her under a rack of underwear at a department store with instructions to stay put. After a long night in the store and her mother nowhere to be found, Millie ends up at the coffee shop where she meets Karl, “the touch typist” who types out what he is saying as if he were typing it out on a keyboard.

Millie returns back home briefly, to see if her mother is there but when she returns to an empty house she goes looking for food and runs into Agatha, the cranky widow who lives across the street. Agatha has been closed off to the world ever since her husband died. She screams things at people and seems at odds with everyone she encounters, including Millie who shows up on her doorstep asking for food.

Karl, “the touch typist” is in his 80s and an odd companion to Millie but the two get to know one another and forge an unlikely friendship when he vows to help Millie find her mother. Having lost his own wife, Karl can relate to Millie’s sense of loss. And then Agatha, forcing herself to be brave, decides to head out into the world to assist Millie as well. Together, all three deal with their losses as they lean on one another for support.

What a wonderful story. I absolutely LOVED it! These three are so different from one another in personality but they all come together so well. I suppose their shared grief has something to do with that even though Millie is really too young to understand what is going on. Her youth and innocence is in stark contrast to what the other two have been through so their interactions although on the surface are humorous, usually hint at something much deeper.

This book is so many things to me! It was funny, and sad and also a little bit of an adventure. The characters are really interesting and I could relate to all of them and that’s such a rarity these days. I could go on and on but instead, I ask that you run out and get a copy right now because it’s just so good.

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

A Sudden Light
By Garth Stein
(Simon & Schuster, Hardcover, 9781439187036, September 2014, 416pp.)

The Short of It:

It feels so good to pick-up a book and immediately know after just a few pages, that it’s going to be a good story.

The Rest of It:

My “book picker” is finely tuned this year. I’ve read some interesting and fun books and I have to say, that this year seems to be the year for atmospheric reads because I have read so many and used that word so many times to describe what I am reading that I think I may need to come up with a new word.

A Sudden Light, is no exception. Fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell’s parents are on the outs. His father, Jones Riddell, takes him back to his family’s home which is infamously referred to as Riddell House. Situated on the edge of a forest and overlooking Seattle’s Puget Sound, it’s massive and full of secrets. The Riddells of the past ran a timber company which produced quite a bit of wealth but Jones and his sister Serena want to sell the house and property so they can build their nest eggs elsewhere. Their only problem is convincing the grandfather, who is battling dementia, that selling the property is the right thing to do.

I really enjoyed this book. There is a slight supernatural element, a lot of family history and secrets, hidden rooms and well-drawn characters. The family dynamic is touching and Trevor is such a great kid. They are all so consumed by this house and what it stands for, that they often can’t see the forest for the trees. Pun intended. Nature lovers will find this book especially appealing because there is a conservation thread to the story that is skillfully woven in.

This book is a little different from The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein’s runaway bestseller, but I really got caught-up in the story and look at that cover!

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…