Finished: Song of Solomon (Morrison) Toni Morrison just has a way of writing so beautifully that she takes you completely into whatever world or characters she has created and you pretty much live the story with them. In Song of Solomon, Macon "Milkman" Dead III is born on the same day that his mother, Ruth, and two sisters, Corinthians and Magdalena called Lena, watch as a neighborhood insurance man tries to unsuccessfully "fly" from the window at the top of a building across from the "whites only" hospital in their Michigan town. Milkman is born into a family full of a rich array of characters. His father, Macon Dead II, is the richest black man in town, but rather than take that self-made wealth gracefully, he lords it over the town both literally and figuratively. All he cares about are appearances and making more money to maintain his status. Milkman's mother, Ruth, the only daughter of the now-deceased doctor for the community, is trapped in a loveless marriage, also both literally and figuratively. She takes solace in her last child, and out of loneliness, breastfeeds him until he is four years old. When a nosy handyman and town gossip spies Ruth breastfeeding her son, he instantly saddles him with the moniker Milkman, which stays with him the rest of his life. The book follows Milkman from his boyhood years to his adult life, as he struggles to be more than just a follower in his father's footsteps, and works to fit in with his best friend, Guitar, who grew up in the poorer side of town, one of the many renters of his father's low-rent housing. He is enamored with his father's estranged sister, Pilate, and her granddaughter, Hagar. Pilate was named when her illiterate father pointed to a word in the bible and asked the midwife what name he pointed to. She told him Pilate, but that he couldn't name his sweet baby daughter after Pontias Pilate...that he was literally the man who condemned Jesus to death. The stubborn father named her Pilate anyway. Pilate and Macon Dead II's father is killed in front of them when they are young teenagers, and they survive together for awhile, but soon go their separate ways because of a fight...their two very different senses of morality already showing at this early age and driving a wedge between them. It is the eccentric Pilate who has sparked in the now thirty year old Milkman the desire to find his family roots....but initially for selfish reasons. He believes that Pilate has hidden bags of gold she found in a cave in Virginia as a child. As he goes on this journey, what he finds along the way instead of gold is his actual heritage. He discovers who his grandfather, Macon Dead I, really was and finally the name of his grandmother who had died giving birth to Pilate. Her name was Sing, and not black like Macon, she was Native American, and together they'd traveled in a wagon full of former slaves north to make a life for themselves. Milkman feels more of a connection with the people he meets along the way than he ever did with his overbearing father or his mother and sisters. In a side story, we find out that Guitar is part of a clandestine group of black men who takes revenge when black people are killed and no justice is served. This group takes an eye for an eye. If a young black boy is killed, they will take the life of a random young white boy, and so on. When Guitar finds out that Milkman has gone in search of gold and will split the gold with him, he becomes irrational and distrusting when Milkman takes so long on his journey and believes he's been double-crossed. He actually goes to find Milkman and tries to kill him by uttering the group's secret murder phrase "Your day has come". While trying to kill Milkman, Guitar accidentally shoots Pilate, who Milkman has taken back to Virginia to bury the newly discovered bones of her long dead father in the land where they've finally discovered they are from. In the ending scene, Milkman "flies" from one rock across to the other where Guitar is standing and prepares to die or die trying to stop Guitar. Apparently who succeeds doesn't matter, but the journey and Milkman's ability to finally fly do.

Finished: The Fallen (Baldacci) The fourth book in the Memory Man series, The Fallen takes our FBI special task force agents Amos Decker and partner, Alex Jamison, to the small town of Baronville, Ohio to visit her sister and family. Even though they are supposed to be on vacation, Amos and Alex immediately get involved in the investigation of four recently murdered people. The former mill town has been falling apart for years and an opioid crisis has affected many families. With a new mail order processing distribution center (think Amazon) in the town, could it possibly be a good cover up for the massive drug ring that Amos, Alex, the local police, and the DEA stumble upon when two of the murdered people turn out to be undercover DEA agents? When Alex's brother-in-law is also killed, and then two attempts are made on the agents' lives, Amos Decker knows there is a huge conspiracy, and he sets out to figure it all out before anyone else is killed. He's got the help of a few new friends: John Baron, the son of the rich Baron family who founded Baronville and owned all the mills, but whose great-grandfather was a miserly, unethical, unhumanitarian man who let the town fall apart and didn't leave his own children any money; Agent Kemper of the DEA, a strong female who fits right in working along side Amos and all his memory quirks; and Cindy Riley, the bar owner in town, who is in love with John Baron and determined to see the town stop punishing him for his ancestor's deeds. In typical Amos Decker fashion, he is usually a step ahead of everyone else in figuring things out, but is learning to better communicate his discoveries. The drug selling/insurance scam/buried treasure plot is finally resolved, with a few surprise members of the community involved. A good book, but the series is beginning to follow the same formula a bit too much. Would love to see it break off on a tangent and maybe even have Decker fall for one of these female agents one of these days. :-)

Finished: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Shaffer and Barrows) An uplifting, heartwarming story about a lively young book author in 1946 London, Juliet Ashton, who is looking for the subject of her next book. Enter, the Island of Guernsey, an island in the English channel, along with its inhabitants, all left unprotected by England during World War II, and therefore left to fend for themselves as they became occupied by the Germans. The book is presented in the form of letters back and forth between characters. Juliet stays in frequent touch with her publisher and dear friend, Sidney Stark, and he with her while trying to figure out her next project as well as her life. We meet the quirky, but steadfast and honest people of Guernsey: Dawsey Adams, a quiet man, and the first person to write to Juliet when he finds her name and address in a book of poems he owns; Amelia Maugery, a caring woman in her fifties, who hosted the literary society the night it became a "thing"; Isola Pribby, the unusual, but forthright secretary of the society; Eben Ramsey, the grandfather who lost his own daughter in childbirth during the occupation, and had to send away his young grandson with all the other children of Guernsey as they were evacuated to mainland England; and Will Thisbee, the creator of the infamous potato peel pie...so created because they reached a point during the war that all the islanders had to eat were potatoes. As it turns out, all of these amazing people are caring for the four year old daughter of islander, Elizabeth McKenna. Elizabeth was the daughter of the housekeeper of a wealthy Londoner who owned a home on Guernsey. She happened to be on the island with the man to help him open up his house when the Germans landed. She could have returned to London with him, but instead she stayed on Guernsey to help out where she could. This was just the beginning of the magnanimous things she did for the people around her. Most notably, she invented the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society! One night, Elizabeth, Dawsey, Amelia, Isola, and Eben get together to share a roasted pig, which had been hidden by one of the residents, a punishable offence to the Germans, who insisted on having all the animals for food for their men. They also discuss a few books that some of them had read. When the time gets away from them, they realize they have missed curfew, but brave walking home anyway. Confronted by the Germans on watch, Elizabeth coyly tells them that they were just coming from their meeting of the Guernsey Literary Society where they get together to discuss literature and they are so sorry to have lost track of time. They are forgiven that time, and the society is born! The group gets together regularly after that...but with potato peel pie rather than roast pig. Elizabeth proves herself to be selfless and brave in many other situations...and she also falls in love with a very kind German officer. They decide they will marry after the war, and Elizabeth becomes pregnant. Not soon after, he is sent off to another part of the war and killed. Elizabeth has her daughter, Kit, but continues to take risks. When Kit is a toddler, Elizabeth is arrested for helping to hide a Polish slave who had been brought to Guernsey to build bunkers, and she is immediately sent off to Ravensbruck, a horrific, women-only concentration camp in Germany. At the time that Dawsey writes his first letter to Juliet, Dawsey, Amelia, Isola and Eben have been caring for and raising Kit, with no idea of where Elizabeth is or if she is even alive. This is just one of the many stories that captures Juliet's heart as she exchanges correspondence with her new acquaintances. Juliet is also wooed by rich socialite Mark Reynolds in London, as he whisks her around from party to party, before he finally proposes to her. He doesn't understand, though, that the more she has corresponded with the inhabitants of Guernsey, the more she has been drawn to them. She is determined to visit Guernsey and hear about their experiences during the war as they scraped by for food, for warmth, and to survive while trying to get along with the Germans. She tells him she's got to think about the proposal before heading off to Guernsey. Of course, once there, she falls in love with all the people she's been getting to know, and especially with little Kit. It takes her a while to figure it out, but she also falls in love with Dawsey, and he with her. When the overbearing Mark comes to see her and practically demand that she give up this island nonsense and come back and marry him, she finally gives him an unequivocal "no". It doesn't help his timing that they have all just discovered that Elizabeth did, in fact, perish at Ravensbruck right before it was liberated by the Allies...once again trying to help someone else. :-( Juliet is more determined than ever to stay on Guernsey and raise Kit if she'd be allowed to adopt her...and at the very end, she and Dawsey finally admit their love for one another and plan to marry. And...as far as her book goes...in their never-ending correspondence, Sydney has suggested that she make her book, not just about the various stories of the people of Guernsey, but about Elizabeth McKenna, who touched the lives of every person on Guernsey, and who was the very heart and soul of the story in the first place. Though there is no escaping the horror of what the Germans did during World War II in any story about that war, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a rare uplifting story that left me feeling so thankful I read it! I thank my friend Amanda for keeping the bug in my ear about this book! :-)

Finished: The Half-Drowned King (Hartsuyker) An okay book that didn't keep me turning pages too urgently, but one that I wanted to go ahead and finish to see how the main character, Ragnvald, and his sister, Svanhild, made out after all their travails. I'm absolutely going to be lazy and just copy the summary from Amazon here because I don't really feel like recapping, especially with all the crazy Nordic names lol. Oh, I will say that it does NOT have the sweeping narrative power of Game of Thrones or Outlander. I haven't read (or watched?) Vikings. :-)

An exhilarating saga of the Vikings that conjures a brutal, superstitious, and thrilling ninth-century world and the birth of a kingdom—the debut installment in a historical literary trilogy that combines the bold imagination and sweeping narrative power of Game of Thrones, Vikings, and Outlander.

Centuries ago, in a blood-soaked land ruled by legendary gods and warring men, a prophecy foretold of a high king who would come to reign over all of the north. . . .

Ragnvald Eysteinsson, the son and grandson of kings, grew up believing that he would one day take his dead father’s place as chief of his family’s lands. But, sailing home from a raiding trip to Ireland, the young warrior is betrayed and left for dead by men in the pay of his greedy stepfather, Olaf. Rescued by a fisherman, Ragnvald is determined to have revenge for his stepfather’s betrayal, claim his birthright and the woman he loves, and rescue his beloved sister Svanhild. Opportunity may lie with Harald of Vestfold, the strong young Norse warrior rumored to be the prophesied king. Ragnvald pledges his sword to King Harald, a choice that will hold enormous consequence in the years to come.

While Ragnvald’s duty is to fight—and even die—for his honor, Svanhild must make an advantageous marriage, though her adventurous spirit yearns to see the world. Her stepfather, Olaf, has arranged a husband for her—a hard old man she neither loves nor desires. When the chance to escape Olaf’s cruelty comes at the hands of her brother’s arch rival, the shrewd young woman is forced to make a heartbreaking choice: family or freedom.

Set in a mystical and violent world defined by honor, loyalty, deceit, passion, and courage, The Half-Drowned King is an electrifying adventure that breathtakingly illuminates the Viking world and the birth of Scandinavia.