Unreliable, Untruthful, Unbelievably Readable

A conundrum, a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma.  Selective amnesia, this is a coping mechanism which may aid in the physical and mental healing of a patient.  An extended family vacation may be a period of time which can lead to the strengthening of the bonds of love or the breaking of the bonds of love.  In conjunction with family vacations, privilege and wealth can be the final factor which decimates a family.  Symptoms of the aforementioned factors include manipulation, lies, prejudice, fear, in-fighting, favoritism and accidents.

We Were Liars is the story of a young girl from a wealthy family who can’t recall anything from the summer she was 15.  She is now suffering from severe migraine headaches.  She no longer desires to own possessions.  She can’t remember how she ended up hurt and in the hospital nor does she understand why her favorite cousins won’t contact her.  After spending a year healing, she desperately wants to return to their private island for the summer to see her cousins and hopefully find answers to her questions.

This mystery, with its unreliable narrator and family tensions, will keep the reader guessing.  The author slowly reveals the grasping avarice of the adults which has grown from the manipulations of the family patriarch.  This sets the stage for a mystery that will keep you glued to the pages because they were liars.

Two additional titles for mystery and suspense readers who enjoy working through clues dropped by a narrator that may or may not be telling the truth are Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied and Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey.  In What I Saw and How I Lied, the naive narrator often doesn't understand the underlying motivations and behaviors of the adults around her.  She slowly awakens to the world of adults only to find that it isn't as glamorous or safe as she supposed.  Elizabeth is Missing chronicles the desperation and confusion of one woman as she battles her personal weaknesses and attempts to convince those around her that her only friend is missing.  Her search is hindered by the downward spiral of her health and her memory. The reader must determine which events are real and present and what are memories from the past.  These are great reads for those prefer to solve the mystery for themselves instead of waiting for a detective to spell it out for them. 

I Am So Glad

I am so glad that summer's here.  It's time to bring home the plans and outdoor decorating ideas so that I can cozy up to my favorite book in one of these:

So relaxing!  Everyone should have one.

These next few months when we burst forth briefly from our weather-tight cocoons are a time of  both action and inaction.  Several of us have hurriedly planted a garden (during the few days when it wasn't raining, snowing, or blowing) this spring.  A few ambitious home owners have managed to start their annual maintenance projects and may even have begun the process of tackling a home improvement project.  Many brave souls are in the process of planning the family vacation, or perhaps the family "stay-cation", which often involves adventures such as camping......with children.

I am so glad that summer's here.  I plan to finish The Magicians by Lev Grossman in the next few days.  I also have Shotgun Lovesongs waiting at the top of my book pile.  Unfortunately, one of the hazards of working in a library is that we are constantly distracted from our lists and reading plans by the books we are passing to patrons.  Polly Horvath's Lord and lady Bunny-Almost Royalty! ambushed me the last time I visited our children's department.  Two chapters into the book on my lunch hour, I had laughed out loud several times.  My goal this summer: work on reading faster. Hammock, here I come.