Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson

Fortune Smiles is a morally complex and thought provoking collection of short stories, embedded with love, loss, technology and disaster.

Entwined within these themes are characters you least expected to meet. A former Stasi prison warden, unwilling to come to terms with his inhumane past. A UPS driver desperately searching for the mother of his son in the aftermath of hurricane torn Louisiana. A refugee from North Korea disturbed by his new freedom. A woman plagued by a terminal illness, trapped alone with the unsettling thoughts in her mind of how life will continue on without her.   

From Louisiana to Berlin to North and South Korea, the reader is taken on a tour of devastated american cities to abandoned prison chambers. Stories that are tucked away in the corners and hidden in the shadows of the world you know but don't fully understand. These riveting stories will introduce you to new realities, new personalities, and new outlooks on life.

This collection of short stories balance on the fragile seesaw between life and death, right and wrong and good and bad. They are filled with unique and unusual characters that practically leap right off the pages straight into your mind. These new voices will confuse you, fascinate you and will continue to reside in your thoughts long after reading this book.

Fortune Smiles is the type of book, whose characters, settings and perspectives you can't help but revisit and question, because of just how intriguing and layered they are.

Reviewed by Vindhya Kathuria

Happy reading! 

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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng is a story of secrets wrapped in mystery, wrapped in drama, wrapped in love.

It's the story of Elena Richardson who has spent her whole life building the perfect life with the perfect husband in the perfect neighborhood with four children of whom unfortunately only three are perfect. 

It's the story of what happens when a stranger, Mia Warren, with her own layered story of secrets wrapped in mystery wrapped in love moves into the perfect neighborhood with her teenage daughter Pearl in tow, testing the tolerance and inclusiveness the Mrs Richardsons of the world - and of Shaker Heights - pride themselves on. 

To those who followed Celeste, Madeline, Jane and Renata in Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, parts of Little Fires Everywhere will feel eerily reminiscent of the sense of foreboding that fills the viewer/reader with dread from the very beginning. 

There is something so dangerous about communities that cling so hard to outward perfection that they become deaf to what's going on inside - or oblivious to what's coming at them from the outside.

But Celeste Ng is also telling the age old story of the lengths a mother will go to to protect her child, in this case even if it means harming the child in the process.

A very enjoyable read with surprising twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. 

Happy reading! 

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Delicious by Ruth Reichl

I love food, I love cookbooks and I have a particular soft spot for food writing!

I was therefore, along with many others greatly saddened when Condé Nast decided to close down Gourmet magazine which had been edited for years by the wonderful Ruth Reichl, formerly the food critic at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Fortunately for us all, however, Ms Reichl has a number of books such as Tender at the Bone and Comfort me with Apples, in which she tells the story first of growing up with a mother (the food-poisener, known as the Queen of Mold) and then her own road to a life with food. 

My personal favorite is Garlic & Sapphires about her start and early years as the New York Times food critic at a time when the New York restaurant scene was in its infancy with just a handful of star restaurants and no appreciation or understanding whatsoever for all the different cuisines that would come to be the hallmark of the city’s culinary life. The book is filled with great stories from a bygone age and peppered throughout with Ruth Reichl’s wonderful sense of humor.

With Delicious, Ruth Reichl has moved into fiction territory with a novel about a young girl, Billie Breslin, who grows up in the shadow of her perfect older sister whom she admires tremendously and with whom she starts a small homespun cake shop. The sister is the artist, while Billie has an exceptionally well developed palate. For reasons which shall not be divulged here, Billie decides to move to New York to work at Delicious, an iconic food magazine where she meets a colorful bunch of people from the chefs who test recipes to the Italian deli owner who refuses to compromise on quality. When the magazine folds, Billie stays on answering letters from readers all over the country and finds a long hidden and forgotten correspondence that puts her on a mysterious trail meant - in the end - to help her come to terms with who she is.

If Delicious sounds a bit light, it is. It feels very much like a made-for-television script to be enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea and a slice of delicious gingerbread cake (check out the recipe in the book) - and for that purpose it is perfect.

If, however, you are looking for some of the best food writing around, then I highly recommend picking up one of Ruth Reichl’s non-fiction books, especially Garlic & Sapphires.

Happy reading! 

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Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks

Yes, it is THAT Tom Hanks and much to many people’s surprise, THE Tom Hanks has written a collection of entertaining, well-crafted short stories that provides what is, these days, a rare commodity: a warm fuzzy feeling and a smile on your face. There is no pretense of high literary style here, just good old fashioned story telling with a twist. 

Most of the 17 short stories are unrelated, with a few being pulled together by the same cast of four friends. The stories are in turn moving, thoughtful and some are downright hilarious. 

One thing that all the stories do have in common, however, is a sense of wholesomeness, Tom Hanks style. It is obvious that Mr Hanks would like to shine a light on - and remind the reader of - the good old fashioned values and virtues that make America great (not again, just great) the ones that welcome immigrants, respect diversity - and put a man on the moon. 

The stories all celebrate the extraordinary in the ordinary. There are no heroes in the stories - not the kinds we read about in the papers at least - but plenty of everyday heroes who try to navigate the difference between right and wrong and whose moral compasses are set on trying to always "do the right thing". 

Uncommon Type does feel like a drink of water in the desert of our current political climate, but the harking back to times when, at least the idea of such values was stronger in American society, can also at times seem a bit too nostalgic and Pollyanna like. 

But maybe we could all do with a bit of nostalgia and Pollyanna for a few hours.

Happy reading! 

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