A Piece of The World, by Christina Baker Kline

If you want a happy story with a lot of action, this is not it. It's deeply melancholy, but I finished it because I had it on audio and I was drawn by the art history and the link to the Hawthorns of New England (Nathaniel Hawthorne, the famous author). This novel's topic is a famous painting, "Christina's World," by Andrew Wyeth -- Wyeth patterned this painting after a neighbor, Christina, who was born with a degenerative disease that began stealing her ability to walk at age 12. I found it difficult to really like any of the characters. Christina's parents were selfish; she's removed from school at age 12 to help her mom with house chores, then later, they lay guilt trips on her to get her to do more. While Christina has every right to feel sad or mad about certain things, I found her stubbornness annoying. She refuses help (eg, medical help), and is jealous and even petty at times. Her brother Al is also weak. He doesn't stand up for himself. 

Most of the action was in the first half of the book. I liked the love story for Christina. No spoilers. 

My takeaway from this book is that Christina's life was hard and bleak. Her disease causes her to constantly fall and trip, and things get harder as the years pass. Just so many obstacles. As for the title of the painting ....spoilers ahead 

Spoilers ahead

Spoilers ahead

As for the theme, "Christina's World," the farm sums up her world. She devotes herself to her parents' care as they grow old and die. She expects her brother to devote his life to the farm too. With her limited schooling, and her unwillingness to pursue medical treatment as a young adult, her world stays small, and all about the farm. I guess the real Christina was happy about the painting by Wyeth. My guess is that she felt that it took her off the farm, so to speak, and out into the world for the first time. 

DNF: Please Don't Lie by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt

I love Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train, and I wanted to love this too. But I didn't. It begins with the protagonist, Hayley, running in fear. We don't know who's chasing her but she's afraid for her life. This short chapter is dated Dec. 2023. Next, it's 2 months earlier, and we learn about Hayley's parents being killed in a fire. And Hayley's sister Jenna is a suspect, but then Jenna is cleared, and then she dies. We don't learn exactly how Jenna dies, but she was a drug addict so...we assume. Hayley meets Brandon Stone at the gathering for her sister's funeral in Florida (where Hayley grew up). Brandon is a contractor. He's also a quiet guy. Soon enough, we learn that Brandon is more than a bit anti-social. Even rude. The two of them marry rather quickly. Hayley has inherited a lot from her dead parents (her dad was in banking). The headlines call her an "heiress." Brandon also comes into an inheritance when his dad dies (though it appears they were estranged)-- he inherits his childhood home in the woods of the Adirondacks. Brandon had moved from Florida to NYC upon their marriage, but mere months later, he wants to leave behind NYC and move to his childhood home in the woods. This fits with his character (what little we know of it), because he previously lived off the grid in the swamps of Florida, fishing to eat. 

Haley has trust issues. She was betrayed by Melinda (who was either a friend from college or a "cubicle mate at Domicile"). Melinda "sells" Hayley's story to some news site - that Haley's sister was an addict. Yet Haley marries a guy rather quickly. A guy who makes her laugh, but is an asshole -- whose assholeness stretches back to childhood on the playground, as we hear from one of Brandon's schoolmates from childhood. 

I did not finish this book. I stopped at page 43 because I find too many things unbelievable, and confusing, and I don't like the characters. Like, how stupid is Hayley to marry a man so quickly, when she is an "heiress?" What does she love about him that enables her to overlook his overt rudeness to other people? And why did Hayley give up her life in NYC to move to a rural town in upper NY, with a husband she hardly knows? To a secluded house atop a mountain, a place where she barely sleeps because she does NOT enjoy the setting among nature? Eg, she's afraid of coyotes, and she dislikes so much silence. Then why did she agree to move there?? (Note that Brandon is known by his past schoolmate from childhood, in this rural NY town, as the Coyote Kid...hmmm.)

Worst of all is this example of bad writing: "Only Emily and Melinda, Hayley's cubicle mate at Domicile and the one friend she'd let into her life since the fire, could coax her out for the occasional coffee or cocktail." --- this sentence gives us two names. Is one the cubicle mate and the other is "the one friend she'd let in"?? If so, which is which? Or did the writer accidentally include two names where there should be one?? Because it's Emily that Hayley seems to trust, while Melinda betrayed her. As the reader, I don't want bad writing. So I'm stopping at page 43. Reading other online reviews, it appears that this book is first in a two-part series. Nope. Not for me. I cannot recommend. 

Hollow City: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

This is book 2 of the six-book series of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children. Jacob Portman lives in the "time loop" with the children until something happens that forces them out. Emma (fire starter) is brave and smart and acts as the leader, as the kids go in search of...no spoiler... in search of a healer of sorts. Their journey is filled with many dangers -- and hollowgast and wigts (these are the 2 types of "the corrupted", aka bad guys). I really like Riggs' writing. With this book, I only suggest you read it if you intend to keep reading more of this series. Whereas the 1st book's ending was the kind where I could fill in the blanks, Hollow City's ending is a real cliffhanger. 

In this book, new "peculiars" include the 2 lil brothers who are more like bats (blind, but navigate with sonar), and a few others. 

Spoilers ahead 

Spoilers ahead 

The kids must go in search of their kidnapped ymbryne, Miss Peregrine. 

After they find her, they must get her to London to be "healed" (think...stuck with feathers). 

And wow that ending. Quite the shocking ending.