Books like Nine Lives

Kashiwai uses the same format and successful formula in A Serving of Hope (book four) as in previous installments. Each chapter is an independent story broken into two parts. The chapters are named for the assignment: the dish that a client wants recreated. These can be incredible simple, yet full of memories, like fried chicken that was served on a memorable day in someone’s life. In certain instances, clients show up at the Kamogawa Diner and tell Nagare and his daughter, Koishi, that they aren’t sure why they have the urge to find a particular meal. The message comes through as Koishi interviews them and when they finally taste what they’re after.

Since each chapter can be read independently as short stories, there are some repetitions including how Drowsy the cat got his name, the peculiar non-descript two-storey building of the restaurant, and the hallway filled with photos that… show more.

I read this in two sittings which is unheard of for my slow reading style! While this book is technically an eco-horror, there’s little gore and only a couple startling scares. I’m easily scared. This is a mystery, in my opinion. Zoje Stage has written an epitome of Man vs Nature theme.

I’ve never read her work before. In fact, credit to where it’s due, what grabbed my attention was the cover. Not shocking. It happens to a lot of people. In comics, every printing gets a new cover and then, there are issues that have several covers just so people can collect them. The cover here is a white-tailed deer apparently on paper with bloody shreds ripping the paper apart. I love our deer friends.

Humans destroying the natural world propelling wildlife to evolve and fight back is meant to have readers question who the villain of… show more.

Dual non fiction stories that were both extremely interesting and a page turner

Since my early reading days, I had this habit to just sit in bed with a book at night and munch on snacks till wee hours of the morning. I got rid of it for long years but this book again made me reach for my namkeen containers and peanut pouches! 

All that gossip and trivia-night silliness in the book turns out to be camouflage for something much darker. Madeline made me laugh, Celeste made me want to reach through the pages. And the murder, withheld till the end—victim and killer both—was a killer!

Scarves off, Moriarty! 

Molly is so unique and the stories are so fun to read.

This historical thriller, set in New Orleans in 1919, features a black female detective and Louis Armstrong appears in the beautifully plotted fictionalized events. 

It has a great sense of place and time, its biggest selling feature for me as a historian. The interlinked rise of Jazz and the Mob at the heart of the action was also riveting.

When I finished reading the novel, I wanted to begin all over again because I did not want to let go of the characters, but they all reappear in three follow-up books in the brilliant City Blues Quartet – Dead Man’s Blues (set in Chicago in 1928), The Mobster’s Lament (New York 1947) and Sunset Swing (Los Angeles 1967). I read them all one after the other – and will reread them all in the coming year!

This book was one that I had gotten several years ago, but because it is long, over 400 pages, I never put in the dedication to read it. I read a couple chapters but didn't follow through. Well, a few weeks ago, I picked it up again, and started from the beginning and started reading it. I got progressively more involved in the great writing and basically, the mystery of the story, and could not put it down. It is FABULOUS. Such a fun, fast paced and interesting book. I love the fact that Anna Fox is a drunk. She's ill and on various meds. She's a total unreliable character and kind of a basket case. That was the one part I didn't expect. That I would grow to care about such a nut case. The author is a man and that's the other interesting thing. His pen name is… show more.

Steadman needed to offer the reader a believable character in terms of who she is in relation to the storyline. In this case, the protagonist is a clinical psychologist who is tasked with putting the pieces of information together to find out who the mysterious man is that was found wandering on the beach. The man doesn't know either, and is at a loss to explain how he wound up on the beach in the first place.  But it’s not just a ‘simple’ case of amnesia because that would be too simple a diagnosis. The buildup to the eventual discovery, leading to the surprising and climactic ending, made this a fun read for me. 

Authors who are able to combine elements of a mysterious character and an intriguing storyline that carries you through the action of a unique concept is a winning formula for whodunits or… show more.

Scientific cloning fears come to life and the possible consequences of that dynamic? The protagonist, a geneticist, makes a startling and extremely consequential discovery and away we go. The story is a combination of science, crime drama, and bad guy intrigue that keeps the reader wondering how things will play out in terms of experiments and mysterious, secretive plots. Follett offers an array of engaging characters that left me pulling for some and proverbially punching others. As with the other Ken Follett novels I’ve read, the man does his research which offers educational elements as a bonus without it interfering with the flow. And the ending is a beauty. 

Questions about who we really are in terms of ourselves and maybe, just maybe, a cloned twin ‘out there’ who apparently isn’t the nice person you are? Why and how could that be? Creative ideas such as… show more.

I regret not having tissues ready, because there were many places in this book where I needed them. And that is the kind of book I love to read.

The Choices We Make is a story of friendship that started in childhood and continues into adulthood. One of the women is a mother, the other prays for the experience of holding her own sweet child in her arms. But once she understands that that dream will never materialize, her friend provides a baby through surrogacy.

The story could have ended there, and I would have been satisfied, even though I’m not a fan of happily-ever-afters. Instead, the story continued, and I got a different, perfect ending.