Book Reviews

   Lessons in Chemistry is a very popular book.  I checked last night when I completed it and close to 1500 people are on a waiting list in my library system to get the book. I must have read a review early on and requested it then, because I got it almost immediately way before the line became so long. In short, my recommendation is not to rush to get to the back of the line.  Lessons in Chemistry is a one note book.  It is engagingly written and the one note is an important one--which is why, I'll opine, the book is so popular. However, the characters are major league stick figures and most of them are wholly and literally incredible.  That is, not believable. You have an elementary school kid reading at a college level. A dog with a vocabulary, a wildly popular television show that would not get the traction that it does in the story.  All this criticism written, the one note the book makes is a significant one. The book takes place in the early 1960s. A woman Chemist is being dissed because she is a woman. Women in the book are relegated to servile positions and even brilliant female scientists are given menial jobs.  The main character, Elizabeth, is an unwavering truth speaker and iconoclast. She refuses to marry the man she loves, does not care that their child is "illegitimate", challenges organized religion, conventional journalism, the educational system, and women who go along with the male dominated status quo.  In this way the book is refreshing.  Elizabeth, having been canned as a Chemist, has a cooking show in which she describes how to cook in terms of Chemistry. The tv executives are certain it will be a bomb but it is a stunning success despite the highly academic nature of the program.  The book's stunning success is more understandable than the fictional 1960 tv show. People in 2023 are still victimized by conventions, and 1960 Elizabeth challenges the oppressors.  The ending is ridiculous.  Three stars out of five tops.

Someone on facebook asked the public for book recommendations.  Several responses suggested  The One in a Million Boy.  I took it out.  It is a sweet and more often than not engaging novel about a 104 year old woman who is befriended by, and befriends, a boy scout who has been assigned to help the woman. The boy is fascinated by records and figures the woman could be in the Guinness Book in a number of categories.  Other characters are the boy's father and mother (estranged from each other), band members the dad--a guitarist-plays with, the scoutmaster, and assorted others.  The boy tapes interviews with the wholly with-it 104 year old woman and these are interspersed throughout. We learn about her life before World War 1, her parents, marriage, and a dear friend.  The problem with the book is that it is disjointed. There are a number of parts meant to congeal and they don't.  Are there enough sweet parts to recommend the book? Yes, but if I was going to make a list of must reads, this would not be on it.  Snowed in, poking around your bookshelves, see this lying around--you could do worse.

I was in a local library in December, and saw a holiday time display that included a book called The Matzah Ball.  A librarian must have liked it or thought in this non Jewish area where the library was located, it would be good to suggest a book that would represent a minority group around Christmas time.  The book is about a Jewish woman who is a very successful author of Christmas books. In addition, she is fascinated by Christmas. She keeps her fascination under wraps because she comes from a very observant family and she too has a strong Jewish background. There is a dear childhood friend who is the son of two prominent lesbian lawyers, a romantic involvement with another man, the main character's father who is a prominent Rabbi, and an event--a high end "Matzah Ball" where Jews meet up around Christmas time to celebrate hanukkah.  The book is, as my grandfather would say, "ridikalus".  It is billed as an adult novel, but i had to check half way through to make sure, because it reads like a young adult.  It screams "hallmark movie" with-go figure--a couple falling in love, alienating each other and--wait for it--getting back together at the end for a happily ever after ending. Ridickalus.  A positive about the book is that the author imparts some important points about Judaism (for example Hanukkah is NOT a major holiday) that are good to point out, and also some tidbits about Judaism and Hebrew that I, a somewhat knowledgeable member of the tribe, had not known about and found interesting.  My recommendation is if you like Hallmark movies that are ridickalus, this is right up your alley.  If not, run away from the display where the book is highlighted.