Author: Anne Tyler

I’m a fan of this author so it is no surprise that I loved this book. It amazes me how the author can turn an ordinary life and family into such an interesting story. It wasn’t until almost the end of the book that I found the link to the title.

While chatting with his wife about the French braids their daughter wore when she was young, and the crimped hair that remained when the braids came out, David makes this comment. 

“… that’s how families work. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever.”

Goodreads Rating – ****

Author: Stephen King

The timing for this post is just a bit off. I finished the book awhile ago but neglected to do a posting about it. Also, had I been just a day earlier when I realized that it might have looked as if I had planned it. I’m picky about the Stephen King books I read as some of them are a bit too scary – even in print form.

I’m sure (if you are of a certain age) you will remember very well the significance of the dates in the title. In this book it has been several years since the assassination but one resident of a small town has found a portal that enables him to go back in time. His plan is to go back and prevent Kennedy’s death but before he can manage it he becomes terminally ill; however he persuades a friend to go back and take care of it. But if you change the past, what does that do to the current time?

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: Ian Rankin

I think one of the things I like about the Rebus books is that the lead character isn’t the only one who solves the crime. As I suspect in real life, finding the criminal is a collaboration between several people involved in or surrounding the case.

In this book a young man has been found dead of an apparent overdose. Rebus is suspicious that there is more at play here when the body has traces of rat poison that has been mixed with the drugs while the packet of drugs next to the body are clean. It takes several other police officers to piece together the strange string of events that led to the death of not only the young man but also several suspicious suicides in the week following.

Goodreads Rating: * * *

Author: Brian O’Raleigh

Pat learned of this book from an online friend and we were able to download it onto my Kindle. When we were in Ireland we planned a day trip to the Aran Islands but it was too stormy for the ferry so we didn’t make it.

A young man, living in Australia, is seeing his life crumble; his wife and son have left him and his advertising firm is on the brink of bankruptcy. At one of his worst moments he receives a letter from his dying grandmother asking him to return to Inis Mór. By the time Connor arrives on the island his grandmother has died and the conditions in the will mean he will have to rearrange his life in order to inherit.

Goodreads Rating: * * *